Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
Newsflash/@federico.cane.90
This is the moment an Italian man folds away the EU flag and replaces it with a Russian one to show his gratitude for the help President Putin is sending to the virus-stricken country.
Italian resident Federico Cane from the town of Omnega in the northern Italian province of Piedmont decided to show his respect and appreciation to Russia, as seen in the footage where he replaces the EU flag with Russian colours.
He accompanied the video with the message: “You learn who your friends are in times of need. Thank you Putin, thank you Russia.”
This video comes shortly after 14 planes were sent by the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) to help the Italians combat the virus, with 10 of them being sent this week.
Russia has reportedly sent 122 military virologists and epidemiologists, eight medical teams and 30 units of medical equipment to their Italian counterparts.
All the vehicles sent by the Russians had stickers on them that said ‘From Russia with Love’ in English, Russian and Italian.
Russian ambassador in Italy Sergey Razov said the decision to help Italy followed a phone call between President Putin, 67, and his Italian counterpart Guiseppe Conte, 55.
He said: “In our view, solidarity should be different. People who have centuries-old history of friendship in difficult situations should hold out their hands. President Putin has repeatedly spoken of the need for countries to join forces to fight new global challenges and threats.”
The aid followed Italy’s plea for help amid dwindling resources caused by the high number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Since the outbreak started in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December 2019, Italy has been listed as the second worst hit country.
As of 24th March, there have been 69,176 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Italy and 6,820 related deaths.
Russia closed its border with China on 30th January and has reportedly experienced a relatively low number of virus cases as a result with 438 and only one death.
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