The ministry said it expressed its "astonishment" to the ambassador about the "recent cancellation of cultural events of Russian artists in Italy".
"It was pointed out that these decisions by the Italian authorities, regrettably, indicate a tendency toward discriminating against Russian artists and reducing cultural and humanitarian exchanges, which runs counter to the Italian leaders’ statements on the importance of preserving a common space of European and global culture, and the inadmissibility of barriers and fences on account of ethnic descent," the ministry said in a statement.
"Russia remains open to dialogue in the field of culture and does not intend to impose restrictions on cultural figures from Italy, of course, if the Italian side complies with the conditions of equality and reciprocity in the implementation of relations in this area," the statement continued.
It also said that it had informed Starace of Moscow's "assessments" of "the current provision of weapons and military equipment to the Kyiv regime, including offensive arms, the training of Ukrainian military personnel and, in general, the Western line of provoking an escalation of the conflict".
Dutch ambassador to Russia, Gilles Arnout Beschoor Plug, was also summoned for some stern words.
The ministry demanded that Holland stop "the intrusive attempts ... to groundlessly hold the Russian Federation responsible for the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in the skies over Donbass on July 17, 2014".
It reiterated Moscow's position - that Russia does not recognise the results of the investigation, in which it did not take a full part and from which it was suspended from the beginning.
ANSA
