There is 'no evidence' that Ukraine was behind Friday's Islamic State-claimed terror attack at a concert hall in Moscow which killed at least 137 people and injured over a hundred more, according to Italy.
"At the moment there is no evidence of Ukrainian involvement. Everything points in the direction of a terrorist attack organized by the Afghan branch of IS," Tajani told Italy's RTL 102.5.
"Russian President Vladimir 'Putin may be trying to exploit this attack to strengthen his war against Ukraine,'' Tajani stressed.
A graphic video released by IS, showing attackers firing on the crowd inside the concert hall, has been verified as genuine by the BBC.
Russian officials have claimed, without evidence, Ukrainian involvement - an allegation Kyiv says is "absurd".
Security in Italy has been stepped up since Hamas' deadly cross-border attack on 7 October in which Israel says around 1,200 people were killed and over 200 abducted, triggering the devastating war against the Palestinian Islamist group in Gaza, Tajani said.
''Security in Italy has been strengthened since the attack launched by Hamas on October 7 against Israel,' Tajani stated.
"''Since the war in the Middle East broke out, we have reinforced checks and extended controls to 250 more locations in Italy," he said.
"Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies are always at work," Tajani stated,
Tajani recalled the arrests on 11 March of three alleged Palestinian terrorists (in the central Italian city of L'Aquila) who were planning attacks against unspecified countries, according to police.
Friday's gun and arson attack at Moscow's Crocus City Hall ''was in the air" and the foreign ministry had issued a warning (on 8 March) to fellow citizens not to attend mass events in Moscow because of the risk of attacks,'' said Tajani.
"We are closely following what is happening and trying to protect our fellow citizens," Tajani underlined.
"There were clear signs of the risk in Moscow,'' Tajani said, adding that Italians had been invited to postpone visits there.
A warning had also been given to the 2,700 Italians registered as living in Moscow," he said.
"Italy's task is to work with great determination for a de-scalation, maintaining unconditional support for Ukraine and firmly condemning terrorism," Tajani concluded.
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