Italy-Russia Chamber of Commerce Admits Russian Gas Is “Cheap and Profitable”, Says Cooperation with Moscow Should Be Done

President of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (IRCC) Ferdinando Pelazzo emphasized that Russia is a powerful gas exporter so it cannot completely abandon Russian supplies.

President of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (IRCC) Ferdinando Pelazzo said Rome cannot completely abandon gas from Russia. Illustrative photo. (Source: AFP)

In an interview with Sputnik news agency on July 15, President of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (IRCC) Ferdinando Pelazzo said that Rome cannot completely abandon gas from Russia, and affirmed that Europe and Moscow would benefit more from returning to cooperation.

"Russia continues to sell gas to Italy, although not in the same way as before. Russia is a fairly powerful gas exporter, so it cannot completely abandon Russian supplies," Pelazzo stressed.

At the same time, he also noted that Europe has been buying Russian gas because it is cheap and beneficial to their industry, "the sanctions are only temporary. They can change."

Pelazzo said he did not know whether Italy would buy as much gas as it did before the Ukraine conflict, but both sides were interested in cooperation. IRCC plans to create a system that would allow Russian companies to buy Italian goods not banned by sanctions, receive rubles, and then transfer the money to Italy from IRCC accounts in third countries.

In February 2023, Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso announced that the country could abandon purchases of Russian gas and become a supplier of natural gas through new channels this year.

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