Coronavirus: After the EU Failed to Deliver, Italy Looks to Russia for Help
The current global political scene is changing rapidly as a result of the
coronavirus. New super-powers are emerging and former power-houses are
weakening in the face of the crisis.
by Steven Sahiounie
March 27th, 2020
By Steven Sahiounie
ROME (Mideast Discourse) — More than 15 military transport planes flew from
Russia to Italy delivering disinfection units, 180 doctors, 100 personnel
which include specialists in biological protection, nurses, ventilators, and
masks. The experts sent to Italy have worked on international epidemics
including African Swine Fever and in developing an Ebola vaccine. Italy’s
Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte had requested help from Russia, and the
government commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, Domenico Arcuri,
confirmed the help had arrived. Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s Foreign Minister,
personally welcomed the first Russian plane to arrive on Sunday. Videos
emerged online of the trucks on their way to northern Bergamo near Milan,
the hardest hit by the virus.
Lombardy regional councilor for health services, Giulio Gallera, announced
the arrival of Russian doctors at Papa Giovanni Hospital in Bergamo. Moscow
has a tradition of international solidarity that dates back to the Soviet
era. “Never had so many Russian planes and personnel landed before in a NATO
country,” reported the Italian daily ‘La Repubblica’.
Italy imports gas to fuel their power plants, and Rome has previously called
on the EU sanctions against Russia to be relaxed, even though the plea has
not been heeded, and sanctions have been repeatedly renewed.
Italy’s Civil Protection Agency Facebook page was full of grateful comments,
and some anger at the US, which was seen as not forthcoming with aid in the
darkest hours of Italy’s need.
New alliances emerging
The current global political scene is changing rapidly as a result of the
coronavirus. We are seeing new super-powers emerging, such as China and
Russia, and former power-houses weakening, such as the US and NATO.
The shifting sands of alliances remind us of a similar situation before WW2.
Italy, and several other EU members, may find themselves forging new
alliances that are headed east. The current US domestic political chaos
gave Russia and China the chance to offer an alternative to nations who may
be ready to wrest-free of the former US domination. This situation leads to
a new version of the old ‘Cold War’ era, in which the world was split into
West and East camps of influence.
The critics
The saying “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” means that you shouldn’t
criticize a gift, but that didn’t stop the Italian daily ‘La Stampa’ from
reporting an unnamed high-level political source that most of the Russian
supplies sent to Italy were ‘useless’.
Russia’s Ambassador to Italy Sergei Razov dismissed the report as perverse.
“Such assertions are the product of a perverse mind. A selfless desire to
help friendly people in trouble is seen as insidious,” Razov told Russian
media.
When asked if Russia expected Italy to return the favor by trying to get EU
sanctions lifted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the notion as
absurd. “We’re not talking about any conditions or calculations or hopes
here,” he said on Monday. “Italy is really in need of much more wide-scale
help and what Russia does is manageable.”
Besides the desire to help a neighbor in need, there is the fact that the
majority of the 658 people with confirmed cases in Russia have recently
flown back from western Europe, making the case for Russian self-protection
as well as Italian friendship.
Russian administration is well-organized and able to impose strong measures
in such a crisis, as compared to other countries that have been slow to
institute strict measures and precautions.
The EU response
European Union countries have been slow to help their fellow members. Italy,
France, and Spain have urged a massive response; however, the EU is divided
on a potential rescue plan for the region’s economy, with Germany, the
Netherlands, Austria, and Finland opposed to what they see as unreasonable
expectations. Nine EU countries including France, Italy, and Spain have
called for a common debt plan administered by a European institution to
raise funds on the market; but, Germany and the other tight-fisted members
stress that all EU countries can finance themselves.
Matteo Salvini, former deputy prime minister, speaking to the Italian
Senate, said “In Brussels, it is clear they are yet to understand the
situation. If the German Government keeps talking about the European
Stability Mechanism (ESM) without conditions which provides that funds are
given to Italy but have to be paid back in the future, Berlin and Brussels
got it wrong,” clearly furious at the German and EU stance.
The origins of the Italian crisis
Mario Di Vito is a correspondent for the Italian daily, “Il Manifesto.” He
compares the coronavirus crisis in Italy to that of a world war. In
explaining how the virus moved rapidly he points to Confindustria, the
association of Italian industrialists, who pressured the government to not
shut down production, and the Mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, continued to tell
people to leave their houses and to live a normal life; however, once the
number of dead and infected spiked it was apparent those early decisions
were deadly. The stay-at-home order from PM Conte came much too late, and
the weakness of the Italian healthcare system was exposed as the sick and
dying rose into the thousands.
Two weeks of military-enforced stay-at-home orders have paid off with signs
of the slowing down of new infections and deaths since Italy’s first
positive test on February 20. Italy has by far the most virus deaths of any
nation in the world, numbering 8,165. While the official count of positive
cases is 80,539, experts assume the actual number may be much higher. At
least 33 doctors have died and 6,414 medical personnel have tested positive
in Italy.
“We know it before we go into battle, and we accept it,” Dr. Luca Lorini,
head of intensive care in a hospital in Bergamo told the Associated Press.
Feature photo | A military truck with stickers reading “From Russia with
love” loads Russian aid bound for Italy on a board of an Il-76 cargo plane
in Chkalovsky military airport outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2020. Photo
| Alexei Yereshko via Russian Defense Ministry
