Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi once threw up while hunting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin had given him a deer’s heart, as a former Berlusconi confidant said.
While hunting in Russia, Putin shot two deer, removed the heart of one of the animals and gave it to Berlusconi. “I got a shock. “I hid behind a tree and threw up,” Berlusconi was now quoted by former senator Fabrizio Cicchitto. Berlusconi, who died a year ago in June, had never held a gun before.
Equal friendship
This experience caused the relationship between the two top politicians to falter. The former Italian prime minister is said to have reconsidered his friendship with Putin that has lasted more than twenty years. “Berlusconi and Putin admired each other and their relationship was absolutely equal. Putin thought this Italian entrepreneur, who controlled television and had made the leap into politics, was brilliant. Berlusconi, in turn, regarded Putin as a pragmatist capable of leading a country like Russia (…),” Cicchitto said.
They could have done many things together and exchanged ideas about business and women’s relations. Berlusconi wanted to bring Putin to the West and to NATO. “He thought he would win, but instead he was fooled by Putin.”
However, after the war in Ukraine started in February 2022, the Italian politician distanced himself from the Russian president. The former confidant said he was disappointed even though he had described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a megalomaniac and despised him.
After Berlusconi’s death, Putin spoke of a “dear person” and “true friend” (see video above).
Source: Krone
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