Putin and Berlusconi were friends. The Italian Prime Minister enjoyed staying with his Russian comrade. But that also went wrong sometimes. When they were on holiday in one of Putin’s country retreats, the Russian is said to have said to Berlusconi: “Silvio, let’s go hunting.”
But Berlusconi didn’t want to at first and, according to his own statements, had never touched a gun, but eventually he went along. The two politicians were walking through the snow and saw two deer. Putin reportedly told Berlusconi to target one of them. When the Italian did not shoot, Putin killed both animals.
Berlosconi thought it was horrible, those dead bleeding animals and vomited behind a tree in misery.
At least that is what the Italian politician and then party colleague of Berlusconi, Fabrizio Cicchitto, reported in an interview with the newspaper “Corriere della Sera”. He was not present at the meeting himself, but Berlusconi told him about it after his return from Russia.
Bloody heart on a wooden saucer
Putin reportedly told Berlusconi: “Today I will offer you an extraordinary meal.” According to the story, the Russian president went to the dead animals with a knife in his hand. Putin cut the heart out of a deer and presented the bloody piece of meat on a wooden tray. The Italian Prime Minister’s reaction: “I got a shock. I hid behind a tree and had to throw up,” his former party colleague says in the interview.
The incident is said to have shaken Berlusconi’s certainties. He is reported to have said: “Vladimir showed me a violent character that I could not imagine in such a kind and reasonable man.”
You can sometimes be terribly mistaken about friends.
The experience apparently did not shake the friendship between the two politicians in the long term. Berlusconi remained close to the Russian despot until his death in June 2023. “Putin was against the war,” “Zelenskyi is responsible for the war and thousands of victims,” Berlusconi told his party. Putin is said to have sent 20 bottles of vodka to Italy for his last birthday.
