In remarks at a conference concluding Italy's presidency of the Council of Europe watchdog, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio praised Italy's "credible" position over Russia's 12-week-old invasion of Ukraine.
"Italy is credible in putting forward a peace plan and this credibility is linked to the fact that Italy has fully supported (Ukraine)'s legitimate defence financially and with all the means at our disposal," Di Maio stated.
"This this gives us the credibility to talks about dialogue because we have never backtracked in supporting Ukraine's population against and the invader (Russia) which is still targeting civilians in that country."
At the conference in Venaria outside the northwest city of Turin, Italy handed over the Council of Europe presidency to Ireland.