Italy? The country most inundated with Russian propaganda in Europe

“What lies behind the pro-Putin stances of TV personalities such as Travaglio and Caracciolo (*)? I have tried to piece together some useful information, starting with a figure often considered secondary – General Fabio Mini – and a recent dossier concerning him.

(*) Both write for *Il Fatto Quotidiano*

Reading *Il Fatto Quotidiano*, especially when it comes to the war in Ukraine, is a bit like looking at the world through a distorting mirror: you risk seeing reality turned upside down and irreparably altered. But three and a half years of blind adherence by the newspaper edited by @marcotravaglio to the fake news and manipulations of pro-Russian propaganda – passed off as the democratic exercise of freedom of ‘information’ – means we can no longer dismiss every lie that is regurgitated as a legitimate expression of the right to dissent, but rather as a concerted scheme aimed at disorienting and influencing public opinion in the clear interests of a foreign power.

In Putin’s propaganda machine, it is usually the editor-in-chief who takes the lead personally. And he does so relentlessly, through editorials, television monologues, books, theatre productions and appearances on talk shows. But he is not the only one, and within the pages of his newspaper one can find cases far more interesting and revealing than the links between Russian state propaganda and ‘news’ outlets such as *Il Fatto* or the magazine *Limes*, whose editor, Lucio Caracciolo, is another well-known regular on TV talk shows.

In recent days, an article by General Fabio Mini appeared in Travaglio’s Pravda, entitled ‘Irresponsible Kyiv puts us at risk’ (here is the full version republished by Infosannio), a distillation of Ukrainophobia, in which the recent ‘Spider’ operation carried out by the SBU is condemned without appeal, described as a ‘stunt’, in which 40 Russian bombers were destroyed at five different airports. According to Mini, who takes pains to highlight the attack’s limited technological sophistication and to downplay Russia’s losses, this was a provocation designed to derail the peace talks and drag the United States and Europe into a de facto state of co-belligerence – a situation he deems dangerous – given Ukraine’s desire to “pursue the plan to trigger a nuclear war between Russia and the US”.

This comes as no surprise to *Il Fatto*, whose editor-in-chief, first and foremost, has always been – as has been noted – extremely “sympathetic” towards Putin’s position, starting with his condemnation of NATO’s enlargement, but also by promoting alternative narratives “on the oppression of Russian-speakers in the Donbass” and the “civil war” in eastern Ukraine, which erupted following the Euromaidan “coup” and the subsequent Minsk agreements “betrayed by Kyiv”, right up to Boris Johnson’s now-legendary intervention, which is said to have scuppered the Istanbul ‘peace’ talks in April/May 2022. In some cases, the regime itself was unable to contain its gratitude, as in June 2024 when the Russian Embassy in South Africa thanked *Il Fatto Quotidiano* for being the only publication in the world to have published the Russian version of events regarding an attack on Sevastopol, which had caused several civilian deaths (in reality, killed by debris from the Russian anti-aircraft response), whilst emphasising the newspaper’s commitment – described as ‘pacifist’ – to supporting the need to disarm the attacked Ukraine.

Il Fatto’s work amounts to a daily campaign of disinformation, centred on the constant portrayal of Russia as a victim whilst simultaneously glorifying its invincibility, as well as defending those in Italy and abroad who directly or indirectly side with the Kremlin’s positions, mostly espousing anti-European and anti-Atlanticist views and attitudes, as demonstrated, most recently, by the significant coverage given to the elections in Romania, the exclusion of the pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu and his replacement, the ultra-sovereignist George Simion, who was subsequently defeated. Similarly, the editor has now firmly set his sights on the leaders of France, Germany and Great Britain, who are also, not coincidentally, Ukraine’s three main supporters.

To pursue this propaganda campaign, following the start of the Russian invasion, the abrupt shift in editorial line also had a direct impact on the very composition of the editorial team, which had already welcomed, as a contributor,Alessandro Di Battista – a staunch advocate of the agreement between the M5S and Putin’s ‘United Russia’, and author of countless reports from the Russian Federation, aimed at extolling its beauty, power and popular support for the leader’s line, but who also never misses an opportunity to ridicule the impact of Western sanctions and deny virtually every crime committed by the regime. Among the notable new additions, one cannot fail to mention, for example, the former self-styled ‘ambassador’ Elena Basile (initially featured in the newspaper under the pseudonym Ipazia, behind which she launched into dispassionate political criticism, in breach of the code of ethics required by her role as a diplomat), who is also a major disseminator of pro-Russian disinformation and the author of books often presented at official events at the Russian Embassy, and that of Alessandro Orsini, whose appointment was the main reason for co-founder Furio Colombo’s departure from the newspaper; Colombo publicly declared his unwillingness to tolerate the professor’s blatantly pro-Putin views. Also worthy of mention is Barbara Spinelli, who, despite being the daughter of Altiero, one of the founding fathers of Europe, has, as a journalist and also as a Member of the European Parliament, always strenuously defended Moscow’s cause, going so far as to vote ‘no’ to the Strasbourg Parliament’s call to release a Ukrainian film director who had been imprisoned and tortured for opposingthe illegal annexation of Crimea.

Following a debate between Marco Travaglio and Andrea Gilli at La Sapienza University, some have pointed out the links between the organiser – Valerio De Luca – and the Russian Foreign Minister, Lavrov.