The Italian foreign ministry on Monday summoned Russia's envoy Sergey Razov to "firmly" deny claims of an anti-Russian media campaign and to ask Moscow to unblock Ukraine's grain exports, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
"This morning, as instructed by Minister Luigi Di Maio in agreement with the Government, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi, summoned to the Foreign Ministry the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Italy, Sergey Razov," read the statement.
"Ambassador Sequi firmly rejected the accusations of amorality made against some of Italy’s institutional and media representatives in recent statements by the Russian Foreign Ministry," the statement went on.
Sequi "also rejected the insinuations relative to the alleged involvement of our country’s media in an anti-Russia campaign," the statement added.
The ministry's top civil servant "reaffirmed his condemnation for the Russian Federation’s unjustified aggression against Ukraine," the statement continued, referring to Russia's more-than-three-month-old offensive in Ukraine.
Sequi "confirmed the Italian Government’s hope that a negotiated solution to the conflict may soon be reached based on equity and in observance of Ukraine’s sovereignty and the principles of international law," the statement underlined.
"Lastly, he underscored the importance of quickly defining an agreement to unblock wheat exports from Ukrainian ports with a view to avoiding serious consequences for global food security," the statement.
The row comes after the Russian embassy posted to its Facebook page at the weekend alleged extracts from a report by the Russian foreign ministry on the "violation of Russian citizens' rights" abroad.
