Russia

Italian Police Identify 3 Suspects Behind Online Threats Against Foreign Minister

ROME (Sputnik) - Three people believed to be behind the threats addressed to Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio over his position on Russia's special military operation in Ukraine have been identified, the Italian police said.
Sputnik
The three suspects have been identified in a police operation carried out in the northern Italian cities of Milan, Vicenza and Udine, the police said on Twitter.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that the police conducted searches of suspects' homes and found that their smartphones had anonymous social media accounts which they used to post and send threats. The threats against Di Maio were disseminated on Twitter, closed channels on Telegram, and Russian social network VKontakte, according to the report.
In early April, Italian media reported that Di Maio was targeted in a social media campaign including insults, threats, and even calls for assassination owing to his strong criticism of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine and calls for tougher sanctions against Moscow. La Repubblica reported that messages containing threats were mostly coming from the social media users with a pro-Russian stance. Di Maio's personal guard has been strengthened soon after.
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