You're reading: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Ukrainian mayor warns, ‘Hands off Berlusconi!’

An expression of support for Ukraine's jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko by Rome's mayor this week has sparked a response in kind in Kharkiv, where Tymoshenko is serving her sentence.

After Mayor Gianni Alemanno put up a large banner saying “Freedom for
Yulia Tymoshenko” outside his office on Rome’s Capitol Hill on November
26, Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Keres responded with a banner of his own.

On November 28, a giant banner showing former Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi with prison bars superimposed over his face was
mounted on the Kharkiv city council building with text saying: “Hands
off Berlusconi! Because of him Italy lost millions. Rome city hall,
support not only Ukraine’s [leader] but also your prime minister!”

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