[6] In the Middle Ages, the Italian maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa ruled the towns of Portus Pisanus and Tana on the coast of the Sea of Azov in present-day Russia.

[7][8] In 1686–1699, the Republic of Venice and Tsardom of Russia were allies as part of the Holy League in the Great Turkish War against the Ottoman Empire.

He favoured Italian culture and imposed his tastes and aesthetic orientation on the works that he bought for his personal art collection and for the New Hermitage museum, which he inaugurated in 1852.

[14] The Italian volunteer Garibaldi Legion fought alongside Polish insurgents against Russia in the uprising, with General Francesco Nullo killed in the Battle of Krzykawka.

A preliminary trade agreement had been made on 26 December 1921, which one historian noted the pact "signified the de facto recognition of the Soviet Union" by Italy.

[21] Italy violated the pact for the second time by promptly responding to requests by the Republic of Finland for military assistance and equipment for use against the Soviet government.

In the late 1930s, Germany planned to gain Lebensraum by invading the Soviet Union with support from Italy, cooperation with Poland, friendship with Britain and the isolation of France.

The Christian Democrats won on an anticommunist platform, the communists were frozen out of power at the national level in Italy although they still controlled local governments in industrial cities.

The first phase covers the time span of the third legislature in Italy (1958-1963) and, on the Soviet side, the last five years of Khrushchev's leadership (he was dismissed in October 1964).

During this five-year period, the foundations of bilateral relations were laid between Italy and the Soviet Union, in the economic, political, cultural and technical-scientific fields.

A second phase, from the end of 1964 to 1968, was characterised in the USSR by the rise of the Brezhnev leadership and in Italy by the start of the organic centre-left with the Moro governments, within which Fanfani held the role of Foreign Minister on several occasions.

In the space of little more than a year, in fact, in Italy the organic centre-left project was realised, the schism of the Italian Socialist Party was consummated and Palmiro Togliatti died, leaving the Italian Communist Party suddenly leaderless; in the USSR, Khrushchev was dismissed and Leonid Brezhnev's secretariat was installed; furthermore, international protagonists of détente such as Kennedy and John XXIII died.

[26] Other than a few setbacks during the most acute international crises, Soviet diplomacy between 1958 and 1968 followed a rather linear policy towards Italy, which did not change even with the rise of Brezhnev's leadership.

An assessment of the objectives achieved and the methods of action was outlined in a secret report by Moscow's ambassador in Rome Nikita Ryžov to Foreign Minister Gromyko in 1969, which reads as follows: “In recent years Italian-Soviet relations have improved significantly in all fields.

On the contrary, our exact assessment of Italy's economic interests - which in so many ways determine its foreign policy - could in certain circumstances yield the political result we need.

This was the context for Moscow's attempt to establish direct relations with certain majority leaders and government exponents, an initiative that was to inaugurate a season of regular and frequent meetings.

At the beginning of the new century, Russian Federation started regaining economic stability and generating interesting investment opportunities.

[citation needed] The Silvio Berlusconi governments (2001–2006 and 2008–2011) strengthened Italy's ties with Russia by the Italian prime minister's personal friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2007 and 2008 Italy was among the European countries (including France and Germany) most critical of the George W. Bush administration's (2001–2009) plan to deploy an anti-missile defense system in 'Eastern Europe, a measure the Russians opposed.

The main reason was that the accession of Georgia and Ukraine would cause a deterioration in relations with Russia without bringing any appreciable security advantage to the Alliance.

[31] Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, leader of the Democratic Party, suggested that Russian-backed organisations[32] may have been promulgating fake news in Italy to influence electoral outcomes,[33][34] and he accused the Five Stars Movement of spreading information supporting the Russian government and foreign policy.

[35][34] In December 2017, former US Vice President Joe Biden accused Russia of helping the opposition Five Stars Movement and Lega Nord.

[36] In March 2018, the Italian government, led by Paolo Gentiloni, expelled two Russian diplomats after the Skripal poisoning case in the United Kingdom.

[37] The parties that won the 2018 election in Italy and formed a coalition government, the Lega Nord and the Five Star Movement, have been giving voice to the Italian industry's discontent with American and European sanctions on Russia.

[39] The President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio expressed their gratitude to Russia.

[41] According to some analysts, Russia's medical aid was an attempt to shape positive perceptions of the country at a time of global uncertainty.

[45] 2021 saw an Italian naval captain arrested and subsequently jailed for 30 years for selling classified NATO documents to a Russian embassy employee.

[46] When Mario Draghi formed his government in 2021, he took a clear stance in support of the EU and the West by expressing concern about civil rights violations in Russia.

The market of the Soviet Union presented itself to the Italian business world with opportunities for expansion, due to the size of the territory and the demand for goods by the population.

In the first place, Russia's ruling party announced draft legislation, expressly endorsed by President Vladimir Putin, about the “Nationalization Counter-measure” that will authorize Russian courts to place Russian companies with foreign shareholder (including from the European Union) into external administration (a reorganization under Russia's bankruptcy law, with an external manager immediately displacing current management) if they take steps to decrease, suspend, or wind down their operation.