Berlusconi's friend shares terrifying story about hunting with Putin
Silvio Berlusconi, former Prime Minister of Italy (photo: Getty Images)
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin frightened the late former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a joint hunt in 2013, tells former senator from Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, Fabrizio Cicchitto.
According to Cicchitto, Berlusconi himself told him this story. In 2013, during a joint vacation with Berlusconi, Putin suggested that they go hunting. Berlusconi himself, telling this story to Cicchitto, claimed that he had never held a gun before, but Putin insisted and gave him a weapon.
"When we were walking in the snow, he saw two deer and showed me to look at one: "This is yours. Shoot it." I let him know that even if I died, I would not shoot. Then he shot them both," Cicchitto recalls Berlusconi's words.
After that, according to Berlusconi's story, Putin looked at the former Italian prime minister with satisfaction and said: "Today I will offer you an extraordinary meal." After that, he took a knife and went to the deer he had killed.
"He quartered the animal and cut out its heart. Then he took a wooden tray from the guard, gave it to me, and put that piece of bloody meat on top of it, saying: "This will be an exceptional meal." I hid behind a tree and threw up," his friend continued to recount Berlusconi's story.
According to Cicchitto, after Berlusconi told him this story, there was a long silence between them, after which the former prime minister commented on the situation: "Maybe it's just a hunter's habit."
Berlusconi's friendship with Putin
Berlusconi not only had close friendly relations with Putin, but also took an openly anti-Ukrainian position. In 2022, the Italian former prime minister justified Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Berlusconi argued that Putin did not attack Ukraine of his own free will, but was pushed to do so by the Russian population and Russian ministers.
