Last week, the Five Star Movement suggested holding a parliamentary vote on lifting anti-Russia sanctions before the June 28-29 European Union summit that is due to decide on the matter. Later on Monday, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is scheduled to speak in both houses of the national parliament ahead of the EU summit.
"Since Italy is a parliamentary republic, the chairman of the Council of Ministers should ask the parliament for general guidelines on the foreign policy management. Of course, above all, it will be dealing with consequences of the UK referendum, but we have also decided to put on the agenda the long-standing issue of the abolition of the anti-Russia sanctions, and have prepared a relevant draft resolution," Carlo Sibilia told RIA Novosti.
The opposition movement believes that the sanctions against Russia should be lifted as they are "detrimental to Italy," the lawmaker added.
Russia has repeatedly refuted the allegations, warning that the Western sanctions are counterproductive and undermine global stability. In response to the restrictive measures, Russia has imposed a food embargo on some food products originating in countries that have targeted it with sanctions.
According to a poll by Pew Research Center, published earlier in June, major EU states are generally unhappy with the European Union's policy toward Russia. In particular, 52 percent of the polled Italians were "strongly critical" of the EU methods of dealing with Russia.
