Star, media tycoon, Putin's friend: Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's brightest politician, has died

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has died at the age of 86. TheGuardian.

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The media mogul, who led three governments between 1994 and 2011 and whose Forza Italia party forms part of Italy's ruling coalition, was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

Berlusconi has been one of Italy's most colorful politicians, despite a career marred by sex scandals, corruption allegations and tax fraud convictions.

He died at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, where he spent six weeks this spring undergoing treatment for a lung infection associated with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia before being hospitalized again.

Career, correctional labor and friendship with Putin

Born in Milan in 1936 into a middle-class family, Berlusconi began his business career in real estate before founding Mediaset, Italy's largest commercial television company. He also owned AC Milan football club from 1986 to 2017.

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Forza Italia was founded in 1993. A year later, Berlusconi became prime minister, although he had not previously held any public office. His second term, from 2001 to 2006, was the longest for any Italian leader since World War II. He returned to power in 2008 but was forced to step down in 2011 due to an acute debt crisis.

Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud in late 2012. As punishment, he did part-time community service for a year in an apartment building in Milan. His ban on running for office was lifted just in time for the 2018 general election, when Forza Italia ran in coalition with the League and Brothers of Italy, but fell short of the required 40%.

In 2019, Berlusconi won a seat in the European Parliament, and in the October 2022 general election, his party returned to power in a coalition led by the Italian Giorgia Meloni brothers. Berlusconi was also elected a senator.

In 2016, Berlusconi underwent surgery to replace a faulty aortic valve and was hospitalized with Covid in September 2020. He had lingering complications related to the virus and described it as "the worst time of his life".

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“Silvio Berlusconi was first and foremost a fighter. “He was a man who was never afraid to stand up for his beliefs, and it was this courage and determination that made him one of the most influential people in Italian history,” Meloni said.

Recently, they had a disagreement over the war in Ukraine.

Berlusconi is a longtime friend of Putin. In 2015, he visited Russian-annexed Crimea, and in May 2023 he offered Ukraine to accept Putin's predatory claims.

In July 2015, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, speaking with his associates, Berlusconi said: “Just think, in Italy they push me to the margins, but meanwhile Vladimir Putin said that he was ready to grant me citizenship and put me at the head of the Russian Ministry of Economy! »

At the height of the war with Ukraine and against the background of damaged relations with the West, Putin congratulated only three politicians from the EU on the New Year 2023: Orban, Schroeder and Berlusconi, reports "TSN" Judging by the publication of the La Presse newspaper, Berlusconi told fellow party members that during the war he exchanged gifts with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the form of a box of vodka and bottles of wine, as well as “pleasant letters.”

On June 12, the Russian embassy in Rome described Berlusconi as a great statesman and visionary, while Putin called him "a dear man, a true friend."

Tributes from friends and foes

Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister, described Berlusconi as "a great friend and a great Italian".

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto called Berlusconi's death a "great, great pain." “He leaves a huge void because he was great. The era is over. I loved him very much. Goodbye Silvio,” he wrote.

His rivals also paid tribute to the deceased politician. One of the first to react was former European Commission President Romano Prodi, perhaps Berlusconi's most bitter political enemy.

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“We represented different and opposite worlds, but our rivalry never escalated into feelings of enmity on a personal level, and the debate remained in the realm of mutual respect,” Prodi said.

Ellie Schlein, secretary of the centre-left Democratic Party, offered her party's "deepest condolences".

“We have become separated from his political vision, but respect for the man who was the protagonist of our country's history remains,” she said. “Deepest condolences from the Democratic Party.”

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called Berlusconi a history maker. "Many loved him, many hated him. Today everyone must admit that his influence on political life, as well as on economic life, sports and television, was unprecedented," he said.

The sports world also paid tribute to the politician. "I lost my brilliant friend," said former football manager Arrigo Sacchi, whose Milan side won the Champions League for several consecutive years.

Berlusconi left AC Milan in 2017 and bought the Monza football club, taking him from the Italian second division to the top flight. A statement from Monza said: “Forever with us. A void that will never be filled. Thank you for everything President."

He was married twice and was in a relationship for seven years with 37-year-old Francesca Pascal, and then with 33-year-old Marta Fascina, an MP from Forza Italia, with whom he had a “symbolic marriage” in March 2022. The politician is survived by five children.

Berlusconi's body will be moved to his home at Villa San Martino in Arcore, north of Milan, sources said. His funeral is likely to take place in Milan Cathedral.

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