VENICE – A paradoxical story, one of the many that in these “pandemic” months we have become accustomed to reading and telling. It is that of the Italians in Russia who are experiencing a real Odyssey during the summer holidays which for them have always represented an opportunity to review their beloved homeland and, of course, their family and friends of all time. 

The two Italian entrepreneurs who have been in Moscow for years, Massimo Marengo and Riccardo Mosconi, now on vacation in Caorle (Venice) with their respective Russian wives and children, told their story to the Italian media TgCom24 . “We returned to Italy to see our loved ones again, after a year and a half away due to the pandemic, and we suffer – they tell TgCom24 – discriminatory treatment: the EU has recognized the pass of the San Marino residents, but not the Russian QrCode with the double Sputnik vaccination. It is true that we are at the seaside and that life takes place outdoors, but we are the so-called orphans of the Green Pass and a rainy day will be enough to ruin our holidays. We are many: like us, the Italian ambassador to Russia “.

“I will stay in Italy until 25 August and now we find ourselves with these limitations”, tells Tgcom24 Marengo, 40 years old from Turin, entrepreneur in the ceramics sector, for decades in Russia, very active in the Federation as a candidate for the Comites 2021 in the next elections of the Committees of Italians Abroad. “When I booked the holidays in Caorle for me, my wife and my son we were already talking about the Green Pass in Italy, but not about the date of its entry into force. Now this surprise, yet we have all the credentials to stay here and go to closed places … and even if I managed to download the post-buffer document with the ‘Immune’ App, my wife, who is a Russian citizen, would not be able “.

“I am certainly in favor of this pass, which came into force in Moscow at the end of June, well before the French initiative, therefore, and which allowed the Russian capital to reach 60% of inhabitants in two weeks. vaccinated, so as to allow the authorities to remove it, – continues Marengo, – but there is an organizational bug that penalizes tourism and the economy. Without really having a reason: the Sputnik of San Marino yes, the Sputnik of the Russian Federation no. I don’t want to think about geo-political reasons “.

“I hope – concludes Marengo in his interview with TgCom24, made by the journalist Gabriella Persiani – that this flaw will be resolved. On the other hand, we could not choose the vaccine. If we had managed to use Pfizer, for example, we would not have obtained the pass. At the end of September there is Cersaie in Bologna, the most important world exhibition of ceramics and bathroom furnishings, but I cannot organize the participation of either myself or my Russian clients. Isn’t it an economic damage? “.

“Me, my wife Svetlana and my three children will stay in Italy until August 15th – echoes Mosconi, 45 years old from Veneto, agricultural entrepreneur in the wine sector – and even a single rainy day, from 6 August onwards, will become a big deal for us problem. We will be cut off from everything, each of us cannot get a swab at 70 euros every 48 hours. And I repeat, we are all up to date, with certifications in Russian and English: what an injustice”.

The further paradox lies in the fact that the European Commission has decided to admit the equivalence of the Covid-19 certificates issued by the Vatican and San Marino (where Sputnik 5 was used) to the EU Covid digital certificate, even if the crux of full recognition remains because each country of the European Union can decide what to do. Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Malta, Cyprus recognize it, others don’t. But the list changes every day. In short: a chaos within chaos.

In the pic above, the entrepreneur Massimo Marengo in a photo taken from his Facebook profile, at the top, Moscow (image by Khusen Rustamov from Pixabay)