It’s the day of love, romance and restaurants charging too much money. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
And there’s no bigger romance among politicians than that between Silvio Berlusconi and Vladimir Putin. Late last year, the former Italian prime minister said he had “reconnected” with the Russian leader and described himself as one of Putin’s “five real friends.” Ahhhh.
“For my birthday he sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter,” Berlusconi said in a leaked audio clip. “I replied with bottles of Lambrusco and an equally very sweet letter.”
And this week, Berlusconi was bigging up his mate again, saying that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was responsible for the war, not Putin. “I judge, very, very negatively the behavior of this gentleman,” Berlusconi said of the Ukrainian president.
The love between Berlusconi and Putin has reached new levels with the discovery of the verse inside the Valentine’s Day card that the Italian sent to his Russian bestie (discovered by POLITICO on the floor of a Poste Italiane warehouse).
Roses are red
Violets are blue
You hate Zelenskyy
And I do too
Western allies be damned
Russia is right
Ukraine’s full of Nazis
Keep up the fight
It’s completely unfair
That you get the blame
Zelenskyy’s at fault
He has no shame
Meloni’s a snake
I don’t trust her at all
Slapping me down?
She has some gall
So down with the EU
NATO and UNGA
Let’s have a party
Codeword’s Bunga Bunga
Ignore Viktor Orbán
I love you much more
Even if you are taking us close
To another world war
