INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Berlusconi.Berlusconi, who dominated Italian public life for decades as a billionaire media mogul, businessman and prime minister, was
confirmed to have died at a Milan hospital at age 86
by the Kremlin.Putin and Berlusconi have long enjoyed friendly personal ties, with frequent visits to each other and lavish
said the Russian leader was not fully committed to democracy.In April 2022, Berlusconi said he was "deeply disappointed" by Putin's
But in September he was forced to clarify those remarks, suggesting the Russian president had been "pushed" into the invasion by his
entourage.A month later, leaked recordings emerged in which Berlusconi described receiving 20 bottles of vodka from Putin for his birthday,
adding that "I responded with bottles of Lambrusco [wine] and an equally sweet letter."Berlusconi later blamed the war on Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky.Berlusconi became the most prominent Western politician to visit Russian-annexed Crimea in 2015, where he and
in a 19th-century war over Crimea.Memos from the United States Embassy in Rome, released in 2010 by WikiLeaks, alleged an uncomfortably
close relationship between Berlusconi and Putin
One cable suggested that the friendship between the two was so strong and Italy's dependence on Russian energy so significant that
Berlusconi had a "distorted" view of Moscow.Another memo claimed that Berlusconi and his allies were believed to be personally profiting
from Italy's extensive energy contracts with Russia
