2024-05-11 20:26:09
Putin cut out a deer’s heart and gave it to Silvio Berlusconi, a close ally of the former Italian prime minister said in an interview on Sunday.
It happened in 2013, when the Russian president took Berlusconi on a hunting trip while the two were on vacation together at one of Putin’s estates, Fabrizio Cicchitto, a former senator from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, revealed.
“Vladimir showed me a cruel nature that I did not imagine in such a kind and rational person,” F. Cicchitto recalled the words of S. Berlusconi, spoken after returning from Russia.
The two men said they were close: Berlusconi defended Putin even after his invasion of Ukraine, and the Russian president described him as a “true friend” after the media mogul’s death last June, according to Politico.
According to F. Cicchitto, S. Berlusconi accepted V. Putin’s offer to go hunting, even though he had never touched a rifle in his life. After going to the forest, the Russian president handed S. Berlusconi a gun and they walked together through the snow.
After noticing two deer, V. Putin urged S. Berlusconi to take aim.
“This one is yours. Shout,” V. Putin said to S. Berlusconi, according to F. Cicchitto. When he refused, the Russian president shot both deer and looked at him with satisfaction.
Then V. Putin went down the slope holding the knife. He quartered the beast and pulled out its heart. He then ordered Berlusconi to be handed a wooden tray, on which he placed the bleeding piece of meat, saying it would make a delicious meal.
After such a scene, S. Berlusconi hid behind a tree and threw up. Still, the former prime minister defended his friend.
“Maybe it’s just the custom of hunters,” F. Cicchitto recalled S. Berlusconi’s words.
According to Politico inf. prepared by Diana Kuklis.
2024-05-11 20:26:09