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Old pals Berlusconi and Putin reunite in Crimea

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Old pals Berlusconi and Putin reunite in Crimea
Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Viktor Korotayev/Pool/AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italy's billionaire former leader Silvio Berlusconi on Friday met for informal talks in Crimea which Moscow annexed from Ukraine last year, an official said.

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Putin and Italy's disgraced former prime minister, who the Russian strongman counts among his close friends, visited an Italian war cemetery near the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, a spokeswoman for Crimea's regional leader told AFP.

The cemetery became the final resting place for many Italian soldiers who perished in the 1853-1856 Crimean War which involved armed forces from the Italian kingdom of Sardinia.

Berlusconi, who has repeatedly praised Putin's leadership in the past, is in Russia on a private visit expected to last until Sunday.

Putin and Berlusconi are longstanding friends who vacationed together in the past.

During a visit by Putin to Rome this June, the media tycoon pledged his Forza Italia party would work to lift Western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

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