and Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei units, in an effort to safeguard what the Italian government considers strategic assets. Moreover, under his ministry, in June 2020, the Space Operation Command (COS) was officially founded. The COS is a joint space command of the Italian Armed Forces, which operates military satellites of Italy. With the establishment of COS, Italy became the tenth country in the world to have a space command. As minister, Guerini had to oversee the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. In August 2021, following the Taliban offensive, the Italian government took part in the evacuation from Kabul. Within the Operation "Aquila Omnia", nearly 5,000 Afghans were evacuated by the Italian Armed Forces and brought to Italy. In 2022, the budget for military expenditures reached a new all-time record, with 25.82 billion euro (nearly 30 billion dollars) planned by the government. On 11 February 2022, amid the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, during a meeting in Riga with his Latvian counterpart, Artis Pabriks, Guerini called for "a constructive dialogue" with Russia to ease tensions. On 13 February, the Italian government declared to be ready to deploy 1,000 soldiers on NATO's Eastern border. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Guerini was among the strongest supporters of sending military aids to Ukraine; however, he always stressed that a no fly zone over Ukraine was not a viable option. On 3 March, he described the Ukrainian people as "heroes", adding that Putin acted as an "arrogant" leader. On 16 March, in response to growing tensions with Russia, the Chamber of Deputies voted to increase military budget to 2% of GDP, a move firmly advocated by Guerini himself. On 19 March, Alexei Paramonov of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs attacked Guerini, describing him as a war hawk and as an "inspirer of an anti-Russian campaign". Electoral history References 1966 births Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Italian Ministers of Defence Italian People's Party (1994) politicians Living people Mayors of Lodi, Lombardy Presidents of the Province of Lodi Conte II Cabinet Draghi Cabinet