“The threat is not so much that of organised groups,” Mantovano told Rai television.

“I believe that a group like the one that acted in the Moscow attack, which must have been trained and had logistical support, would be intercepted sooner in Italy.

“The most worrying threat is online recruitment.

“The risk of self-activation by lone wolves? Yes, as has happened in other European states.”

He said the situation in the wake of the Moscow attack would be analysed at a meeting of the national security committee on Monday and stressed that “Italy has always maintained constant attention to the threat of terrorism on many fronts”.

He added that the Moscow attack was a demonstration of “great weakness from a regime that bases its credibility on the ability to guarantee security”.

“It reminds us of the weakness and uncertainty that emerged in the initial hours of the advance by the Prigozhin brigade,” he continued.

“There was the paralysis typical of autocratic regimes that base everything on orders from above in that case too.”

ANSA