While Italy continues to record the largest number of deaths during the COVID-19 crisis, Russian President Putin has sent nine Il-76 military airplanes to Rome, carrying more than 100 specialists, some medical equipment (including truck-based units for disinfection) and testing devices. The planes and trucks bore giant stickers showing heart-shaped Russian and Italian flags with the slogan “From Russia with Love” in both languages. Russian media claimed it to be an act of goodwill free from any political pretext. At the same time, Italy’s daily La Stampa reported that 80 per cent of the Russian supplies are not useful to the country’s health services.
New Eastern Europe: How Russia is influencing the EU and NATO during the pandemic
People walk on a bridge over the Moskva River, with the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters and the Kremlin's towers seen in the background, in downtown Moscow on Feb. 13, 2020.
