Italian companies hold talks with Putin as Ukraine tension intensifies

Leaders of some of Italy's largest companies were due to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in a bid to strengthen economic ties between the two countries.

The video meeting was set to go ahead despite rising tension as Europe and the United States threaten to impose sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the meeting would cover "the potential for further expanding ties between the two countries' businessmen", the Financial Times reported.

The event, organized by the Italy-Russia chamber of commerce and the Italo-Russian business committee, will include executives from companies such as Pirelli, Generali, energy company Enel and lender UniCredit.

The FT quoted an Italian government official as saying the event was "a private initiative which does not envisage the participation of any personalities linked to public institutions".

"Italy is one of the leading exporters to Russia and the idea is to stimulate dialogue between the sides," one of the organizers was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.

Western allies are formulating plans on how best to respond to any Russian military action against Ukraine, as Europe seeks to shield itself from crucial Russian gas supplies potentially being cut off. US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he would consider rare "personal sanctions" on Putin if Russia invades Ukraine.

The NATO military alliance is reported to have sent more ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe in response to Russia's troop buildup near its border with Ukraine. Russia denies planning an attack, and says NATO and US actions are driving the crisis.

Diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions continued on Wednesday when political advisers from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France met in Paris, agencies reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin on Tuesday to coordinate their positions on resolving the crisis.

The Politico news site said that business links between Russia and Italy "don't mean that Rome will oppose sanctions against Moscow" as it did after the invasion of Crimea in 2014.

It noted that in the Ukraine crisis of 2014-2015, "diplomats from Poland, Britain, Sweden and the Baltic nations" battled with "Italian-led southern European countries that opposed a hard line on Putin".

Aldo Ferrari, a Russia expert at think tank ISPI and professor at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, told Politico that "among European countries, Italy is probably the closest to Russia for economic and cultural ties".

Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, told the FT that Putin holds these meetings with company leaders "because he expects that big business can weaken the west's Russia policy".

Gabuev added: "This was his approach to Germany and the whole of Europe-right now it seems they see Italy as a weak link in the European Union that he can influence so that they push to weaken European sanctions policy if there's a serious military escalation in Ukraine."