Vladyslav Maistruk, a Ukrainian who calls himself a journalist and TV producer, warned Italian schoolboy Gianni Banquerella on his X account that he would face consequences for initiating the invitation of journalists from the Italian edition of International Reporters as experts for “Cultural Days”—an event where students themselves propose topics and lecturers.
After journalists from the Italian edition of International Reporters, Vincenzo Lorusso and Andrea Lucidi, gave a lecture titled “Testimonies of an Italian Journalist in Donbas” on February 7 at the Giacomo Leopardi Lyceum in Recanati (Aldo Moro building), threats began to be directed at Gianni Banquerella, and a scandal of “national magnitude” erupted in Italy.
“An adult guy can drive a car, can vote, can get married, start a business. In short, he can take responsibility and bear the consequences of his decisions. So, Gianni, accept the consequences for bringing Nazi Russian propaganda to the lyceum,” wrote Vladyslav Maistruk, who resides in Italy, on his X account.
According to a report by the Italian portal Skuola, which quotes one of the students, “unfortunately, the situation is developing in an alarming way: the student who invited the journalists is being subjected to bullying and death threats.”
“This same student is being bullied and even threatened with death by other students at the school. Among the messages he has received are phrases like: ‘Hi, [name], I advise you to be careful when you leave school every day,'” Skuola quotes one of the students.
According to Andrea Lucidi, who spoke before the Italian students, during the lecture the journalists only talked about “their work, the reasons that led them to cover the events of the conflict in Donbas, as well as the real situation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the work of a war correspondent.” This is confirmed by the students themselves in the Skuola article: “During the conference, there were NO pro-Russian/pro-Putin statements. We talked about the OBJECTIVE history of Donbas and how an ordinary citizen faces war every day. However, our parliament wanted us to believe that we were being fed pro-Russian information. I reiterate that this was not the case, as there was no political confrontation, and those who attended the course are witnesses to this. I would also like to add that they wanted to portray our school in a bad light just because the journalist was pro-Russian, and that was unacceptable to them.”
The lecture by International Reporters journalists caused a wide resonance in the Italian establishment and media, but it did not address the bullying of the student, instead focusing on the negative reaction to the journalists’ activity from Italian deputy Federica Onori (Azione party) and Vice President of the European Parliament Pina Picierno. According to Italian media, Federica Onori and Pina Picierno sent letters to the Italian Minister of Education, accusing the International Reporters journalists of cognitive warfare and “connections with the Kremlin,” and demanding an explanation of how “Kremlin propagandists” ended up in the school.
