US President Joe Biden. File photoROME, May 20Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said during his recent visit to Washington he advised US President Joe Biden to call Russian leader Vladimir Putin to promote a settlement over Ukraine.»When Last week I was in Washington and I was talking to Biden, I said that maybe only Putin would like to hear his words, and so I told him to call Putin, I must say that this advice was successful, because in a day not him, but the US secretary of defense spoke to the Russian secretary of defense,» Draghi said Friday, speaking to students at a school in the northern Italian province of Verona. » /> Americans were indignant at Biden's speech mentioning Putin. The site of the government's Chigi Palace hosted a live broadcast of the Prime Minister's speech. Draghi told schoolchildren that he had received a letter, the author of which urged him to see «not only Russian citizens, but also citizens of the world.» In this regard, he stated that citizens of the Russian Federation cannot be considered as enemies and considered guilty. «They are not enemies, and it is important to remember this when speaking about the search for peace,» the Italian prime minister noted. The Russian Defense Ministry previously reported that on May 13, at the initiative of the American side, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu held telephone talks with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and discussed with him «topical issues of international security, including the situation in Ukraine.» The ministers spoke for the first time in almost three months — the last time they spoke on the phone was on February 18, before the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. Putin, writes Le Monde
