Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio has called on politicians and groups within NATO member states to show united support for Ukraine in the three-month-old war with its invader, Russia.
"We must avoid fuelling Russian propaganda," Di Maio told a forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit being held in Madrid on Wednesday through Thursday.
NATO exists "not just to defend ourselves militarily," Di Maio underlined.
"We are an alliance based on shared values and we must uphold our values on a daily basis," Di Maio went on.
"Because when there are political parties, associations and institutional representatives whose phrases and statement allow Russian propaganda to tell the whole world that even in the Western community, in NATO, there are people who are against Ukraine or (president Volodymyr) Zelensky, we have an impact on the consensus that (president Vladimir) Putin has in Russia."
Putin "uses this propaganda to increase and consolidate consensus towards himself and to 'justify' his war against Ukraine," Di Maio said.
Di Maio is attending the NATO summit with Italy's premier Mario Draghi and defence minister Lorenzo Guerini.
