Rome (IP) - As tensions rose in Ukraine, more than 100 Italians gathered in a central square in Rome to protest NATO policies.

Iran PressEurope: Protesters holding placards condemning US imperialist and Zionist policies while opposing NATO expansionism stressed the need for US and NATO forces to withdraw from Italy.

Italy currently hosts more than 100 US and NATO military bases on its territory. According to experts, the Italian government spends about five hundred million euros a year on these bases.

Seven decades after World War II, parts of Italian territory are still in US possession, and atomic bombs are stored in some military bases.

Italian demonstrators in Rome also called NATO's attempt to expand its military presence around Russia's borders a provocation under the pretext of the Ukraine crisis.

In the past two weeks, the Italian media, like other Western media outlets, have firmly claimed that Russia will invade Ukraine on February 16, 2022, citing US and NATO intelligence sources, but this claim has been refuted. 

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