An Italian historian, D'Orsi, is serving as an observer of the elections in Russia, according to lastampa.it. The outlet reports that he addressed critics with a challenge: to call him a propagandist for Vladimir Putin.
The headline from lastampa.it frames the remark as D'Orsi's own response to expected criticism of his role, though the summary available does not include further detail on where he made the comment or how he was selected as an observer.
The elections have drawn attention on several fronts in Italian media. Corriere della Sera reports that Moscow's army is short of men, and that talk of a mobilization is unsettling Russian voters as they cast ballots. RaiNews reports that Moscow has denounced cyber attacks on the vote, and that Dmitry Medvedev described Trump's sanctions as a "Russophobic outrage"; the same report says Russians struck an oil tanker in the port of Chernomorsk. La Repubblica reports that the leader of the Yabloko party said his group was excluded from the ballot and described it as the only party fighting for peace. Il Post published an analysis titled "Why Putin needs these elections."
Taken together, the coverage portrays a vote held amid military manpower problems, hacking allegations and the exclusion of at least one opposition party, while an Italian historian's presence as an observer has itself become a point of contention.
What to watch next: whether D'Orsi or Italian officials comment further on his observer role, and how Russian authorities respond to the reported cyber attacks and mobilization speculation.