Posted:
22.10.2024 14:34:05
West fears the truth — an Italian journalist sets the record straight
The first question to Andrea Lucidi — an Italian journalist, war correspondent, and anti-fascist, who is currently actively travelling around Donbass, Belarus, and Russia, has been to Syria, Lebanon, and Venezuela, and is telling the truth to ‘democracies’ — was: Are you planning to return to Italy at all? The colleague smiled. As long as the situation in the ‘democracies’ is as it is, he is unlikely to return home. Recently, the man had to hastily leave Italy.
Andrea Lucidi, an Italian journalist — In the EU, people like you are out of favour right now.
— I have indeed started having problems in Italy. The parliament considers me an agent of Russian propaganda because I have published reports from Donetsk and Lugansk, and I lived in Lugansk for two years. Unfortunately, there is currently no place in Italy or the European Union for such journalistic materials — from Donbass, Belarus, or Russia. Our state channels do not want to air them; they are afraid. I think it is better for me not to return home for now, as I fear persecution, although I have done nothing against Italian or European laws. I am not military; my weapon is a camera. Yet, in the current situation, the police can take away my passport and claim that I have, for example, contacts with a terrorist group or that I am a foreign agent. I do not want problems. I want to work for the sake of truth. Here, in Belarus, I can do my job calmly. I am free, everyone is open, and there are no problems.
— Really? They say we have a dictatorship.
— Where? What dictatorship? Thirty minutes ago, I was broadcasting live with RT in the street. There were police officers nearby, and they did not ask me anything. This is a dictatorship, right? For comparison: I was taking a photo near the central station in Milan, and the police and security started questioning me about who I was and why I was taking photos. Do they call that a democracy?
I have come to Belarus because there is little information about you in our media. They only say that there is a terrible dictatorship here, no freedom, you cannot speak out or walk peacefully in the street, and that the politics are bad. I have come here and see that this is a lie. That is why I have decided to tell the truth about Belarus.I want to talk about the Belarusian programme for mitigating the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The West knows nothing about it. I have travelled to Gomel Region, to the exclusion zone and the radiation and ecological reserve. I met local residents, people who know the truth about those events. I met with the Gomel authorities and visited medical institutions. I was also surprised that Belarusian healthcare is no worse than the Western one, and it is free. It is available for the people.
In the EU, regrettably, they have forgotten that Belarus is doing a lot to mitigate the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster — not only for itself but for all of Europe.
In the West, you cannot talk about this topic without speaking ill of the Soviet Union. I have been to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant many times and have seen how things operate there. I also saw how the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled the power station near Energodar. They use western weaponry there — from the USA, the UK, Italy, France.
— By the way, what do people in Italy think about this?
— Many Italians are against sanctions, against war. People see that these sanctions have resulted in soaring prices for electricity, gas, and heating — they have increased by two to three times. Of course, people do not want to pay for the war with Russia. Italy used to have good relations both with Russia and Belarus.
Italians know little about the life of Belarusians. I remember, a friend of mine shared a piece of news, claiming that in Belarusian shops, there are no products — only bread and potatoes. I have intentionally taken a few photos just now and want to make a publication with a video showing that there is everything here. We can even pay with an Italian card — not everywhere, but we can. I think it is worth coming here for a holiday. Why not?
Lyudmila Gladkaya and Andrea Lucidi — Historical memory, historical truth. Do you think there are problems in Italy in this regard? I know you are a historian by education.
— Yes, there are problems. They are rooted in politics. Since February 2022, the themes of fascism, neo-Nazism, and historical memory have become unpopular in Italy. Unfortunately.
You know, there were a lot of partisans in Italy in the 1940s, over five thousand Soviet partisans. Now, however, they do not want to remember them. April 25th is Liberation Day from fascism and Nazism in Italy, it is a national holiday. In 2022, we organised a tribute event dedicated to Soviet partisans in Milan, and Ukrainians disrupted our event, although there were also Ukrainians among the partisans.
At the same time, Italian state television shows Ukrainian troops with swastikas, with Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols — and no one has any objections. In other words, if someone is a Nazi and is against Russians, then they are a good Nazi. The European Parliament used to be against neo-Nazis, but now it is not, because there are many of them in Ukraine and they are connected with neo-Nazi, neo-fascist parties in Europe. So yes, there are significant problems with this in Italy now.
— The Supreme Court in Italy has allowed doing the Nazi salute. There is footage of it on the Internet. We, Belarusians, cannot understand how this is even possible. For witnesses of the fascist genocide of the Belarusian people, it is especially painful to see such videos.
— You know, I think the same as you — as people in Belarus and Russia. One can only wonder: how do the authorities in Italy allow this? I have no answer. We even have special political police, who know these groups very well, yet they prefer to do nothing. The Italian Constitution prohibits fascist parties, but, in fact, they exist. The explanation is simple. There is one fixed idea — the East is our enemy, it is like a new cold war.
— The essence is the same, the methods have changed.
— Yes, indeed. Interestingly, when Belarus brought nuclear weapons back into the country, there was a huge scandal in the West: ‘Look! Lukashenko wants to use nuclear weapons against Europe, the West. This is a great danger to us!’ But there is NATO’s nuclear sharing programme [it allows the USA to deploy its nuclear weapons in member countries that do not have them]. US nuclear weapons have long been stationed in Italy, Germany, Belgium. Is that normal? Neither Belarus nor Russia said anything. Yet, when Belarusians decided to take precautions, to secure their country — after all, we see that Poland and the Baltic states are building up military forces near you — they say: ‘Ah! Look! They are going to use it against us!’ It was the USA that actually started deploying nuclear weapons in European countries. Doesn’t Belarus have the right to defend itself?
— The West is really afraid of the truth, which is why it eliminates people who might disclose it, shuts down Russian and Belarusian media, orchestrates provocations and terrorist acts, creates problems and tries to blame us for them.
— Well, if the West had no problems, it would have nothing to fear. If European journalists do not say anything bad about Belarus and Russia, those materials are not published while the resources of such reporters are blocked. This has happened to my acquaintance. That is the policy. In Italy, there is one TV channel that provides space for objective information.
Andrea Lucidi in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Gomel Region — Have you received threats in connection with your work?
— I know that the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] has made a file on me. The Ukrainian embassy in Italy has sent a lot of letters — claiming that I am a Russian propagandist — to various institutions and organisations where I held events. Once, I was in Crimea, and they posted my GPS details, saying: ‘He is here. If you have a missile, do not spare it.’ I was also added to the Peacemaker, or Mirotvorets, website, which states that I committed a crime against Ukraine and its territorial integrity.
— Kiev is successfully doing this without our help. I have read one of your publications — War in Ukraine Encourages Organ Harvesting and Trafficking. Do you have any facts?
— I do. In Severodonetsk, I got into a room where surgeries were being performed. I saw a container for organs there. It was weird to see it there. Why would you need a container for organs on the front line? There cannot be any organ transplant happening there.
Right now, many people are dying in Ukraine, there is no control, and there is significant corruption. It is known that a black market for organ trafficking has been in Ukraine for many years. The local organised crime network and other groups — for example from Italy, Albania, Greece, Romania — do whatever they want in this country. In Europe, as we know, there are those who are willing to pay for organs. Behind the war in Ukraine is a real business. Unfortunately, European authorities are silent about this. We have evidence, witnesses, materials, and videos confirming this.
— When do you think European officials will stop cringing before the United States?
— When they stand together — that would be good for the European Union. However, there is no unified policy in Europe, but there are US bases and weapons, including nuclear ones. If any politician starts talking about national interests, they encounter problems. Not everyone is ready for that. Overall, I do not think anything will change in the near future, unfortunately.
Interviewed by Lyudmila Gladkaya
