Italy unprepared for Russian or other attacks: Defense minister

BRUSSELS

Italy’s defense minister said Monday that the country is not ready to defend itself in the event of an attack from Russia or another country, warning that two decades of underinvestment in the military cannot be reversed quickly.

"We are not ready for a Russian attack or an attack by any other nation, I have been saying this for a long time," Guido Crosetto told reporters in Rome, the ANSA news agency reported.

"I think we have the duty to put this country in a position to defend itself if some madman decides to attack us: I'm not talking about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, I'm talking about anyone," he added.

Crosetto stressed that Italy had not invested sufficiently in defense over the past 20 years. "Twenty years cannot be recovered in a year or two," he said.

On NATO, the defense chief underlined that Italy is already one of the main contributors to the alliance’s eastern flank.

"If we need to increase it, we’ll be formally asked,” he said, adding that so far only NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had made such a statement, not a formal request.