Bearing in mind the complicated international moment, according to many chaotic and fragile, it was not realistic to expect that the international organization of a multilateral character "Group-7" would make overly significant, even less historical, conclusions.
The rest is a closing of ranks "in the face of growing global challenges". Among them the pretensions of new punitive measures against Russia, China, Iran.
With the summit that was held at the end of last week in the south of Italy, in Puglia, the region of "sun and wind", Group-7 is almost 70 years old. This powerful western club, which for decades brought together seven of the most industrially developed countries, changed its forms of activity, including its composition. At one point, Yeltsin's Russia was accepted. This is how the G - 8, or G - 7 + Russia was born.
In further experiments that obviously depended on the current international momentum, at the initiative of Barak Obama, the G-20 was reached, so many people were at that summit, from Brazil, through the already established Russia, to South Africa.
Lately, the G-7 format has returned. Since these are democratic Western countries where the press is free, even the satirical press, it is no surprise that it was there that the title of the Summit in Puglia was called G-1 + 6 (America plus 6 members).
This Summit will also be remembered for one guest, Pope Francis, who spoke about the most modern topic - artificial intelligence, confirming once again the Vatican's controversial, yet daring pretension to meet and dialogue with modernity.
Yes, the topic of war was inevitable, first with an appeal, at Macron's request, for the cessation of hostilities during the upcoming Olympics in Paris. The appeal remained without reactions from the war zones of Ukraine and Palestine.
As expected, the topic of aid to Ukraine was also on the agenda, this time with a new financial structure. Namely, the claim that the large material value of Russia's assets that are frozen abroad should be directed to Ukraine as aid in waging war continued.
We leave aside the polemical controversies of that venture, even from the point of view of international law, if anyone still seriously holds to that once elite and emancipatory branch of law. If we move on to the very initiative of confiscating Russian assets, then let's start from the venue of the last G-7 summit, from Puglia and its capital, Bari, because that's where we reach Russian assets.
We also come to an unusual historical story that I will try to unravel.
Not the property of a tycoon
This story, therefore, is not about the assets of Russian tycoons that have been frozen by the Italian authorities on the territory of Puglia.
It is about Russian property that is part of exciting historical, state, cultural, diplomatic, religious plots.
How did the Russians, through what real estate operation, become the owners of part of the land on the Adriatic coast, across from our coast, more precisely in Bari?
Let's start from March 1, 2009, when, during a state ceremony, Italy returned the "St. Nicholas" church complex in Bari to the Russian state. On that occasion, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano symbolically handed over the key to the church and the land complex of eight thousand square meters to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Later, Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Prodi visited the church in Bari, and on that occasion, as stated, they signed eight bilateral agreements.
The historical dimension of the event is based on the fact that the Christian-Orthodox building in Bari began to be built in 1913, and that the investor was none other than the Russian Emperor Nikolai II Romanov. The complex contains a church and a hostel for pilgrims. The main designer was Aleksey Susev, a great architect of Imperial Russia, but also famous for designing Lenin's mausoleum.
After the revolution of 1917, the new Soviet state ceased to be interested in the fate of the church in Bari, completely in accordance with the new ideology that defined religion as opium for the people, and gave the church a reactionary, or more precisely, counter-revolutionary treatment. Neglected for a long time, the church complex will eventually become the property of the Italian state, and then, in 1937, property of the municipality of Bari.
The religious dimension of this event is particularly rich and multi-layered. Bari is a city also known for the fact that in 1087 the relics of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, fishermen, children, merchants and prisoners, girls and boys, patron of Russia, Greece, were brought and stored there... Saint Nicholas is celebrated by all Christians , that is, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, that, in addition to its great importance for church life, it was also remembered for its importance in the cultural and artistic history of the Mediterranean and Europe.
According to tradition, the sailors transferred the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra (today's Turkey) in Bara, then a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional city.
The Russian Emperor Nicholas II decided to build a church in Bari, expressing special piety to St. Nicholas, the protector not only of Russia, but also of the Romanov family.
It is also planned to be a place for Russian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land, Palestine.
The agreement for this undertaking was preceded by the favorable atmosphere that reigned in the state relations between Italy and Russia in those years. It was created, among other things, due to effective Russian aid after the catastrophic earthquake in Messina.
But let's take another leap into history and recall some details of that dramatic time recorded by Italian historians.
In the Mediterranean waters, in 1908, when the most terrible earthquake in the history of Italy occurred, in the waters of Sicily not far from Messina, there were two Russian military cruisers. When asked to help evacuate the unfortunate people, the admiral replied that they had a precise route that they could not change without the approval of the Russian ministry. Historians wrote that then the sailors saw Queen Jelena climbing aboard the ship "Slavia", addressing Admiral Litvinov in Russian with these words:
"Admiral, neither the Queen of Italy nor the Princess of Montenegro is talking to you now. You are being addressed by a woman who, in the name of humanity, swears you to immediately transport these unfortunate, seriously injured persons to Naples".
When it became known in Petrograd about this scene, about the name of the woman on the ship, especially the spoken words, it was quickly decided that the cruiser "Slavia" and another warship in the vicinity immediately set sail with the injured towards Naples.
A large monument was later erected in Messina as a sign of gratitude to Queen Jelena.
The aforementioned episode of the help of Russian ships during the day of the great tragedy in Messina remained an unavoidable moment for all those who studied Italian-Russian relations in history, two countries geographically quite distant, which is considered an essential condition for good relations between the states. This is how the anthological telegram of the Italian ambassador to Russia at the end of the 19th century, Konstantino Nigra, to the ministry remained, in which he ended his analysis with the following sentence: "We can do neither much good nor much harm to each other."
Although there were ups and downs in those relationships, the sentence from the telegram mostly stood the test of time. The episode in Messina remained one of the bright spots of that relationship.
Without (new) recklessness
After this historical excursus - we return to our time and the topic of the fate of confiscated Russian property. It is hard to think that Russian property in the form of a religious complex in Puglia will also go into the cumulative mass of goods for military aid to Ukraine.
Someone might remind you of absurd situations in culture, for example the decision at the beginning of the war in Ukraine to ban the continuation of the series of lectures on Dostoyevsky at the University of Milan. In truth, when everything was widely reported, the omission was noted, public criticism from the democratic public in Italy followed.
We believe, in fact we are sure, that this time there will be no reckless speed in the field of spiritual culture that sometimes risks compromising the just cause of solidarity with the Ukrainian people regarding the war that has been raging in that country for the third year.
Bonus video:
