Italy: Putin’s nuclear stance demands a strong response

Bloomberg

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Vladimir Putin is engaging in “extreme blackmail” that requires a “swift, firm, united reaction” after the Russian president put his country’s nuclear forces on high alert.
Draghi said that Putin’s warning last week that those who obstruct Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would face “consequences that you have never encountered in your history” constituted a threat to Europeans.
“Tolerating a war of aggression against a European sovereign state would mean putting at risk, perhaps irreversibly, peace and security in Europe,” Draghi said. “We cannot let this happen.”
Speaking to the Italian parliament in Rome Tuesday, Draghi said he is open to further sanctions against Russia and that those already in place were being extended to Belarus.