Riccardo Lombardi


Riccardo Lombardi was an Italian politician.
Lombardi was born in Regalbuto. A leader of the Italian Resistance against Mussolini during World War II, he formed the Partito D'Azione, or Action Party, in Italy in 1942.
He represented the Action Party in the Constituent Assembly of Italy from 1946 to 1948 and the Italian Socialist Party in the Chamber of Deputies from 1948 to 1983. In 1980, he was made president of the Italian Socialist Party.

Forged NATO Document Incident

On 18 June 1970 Lombardi made claims before the Italian Chamber of Deputies, based on a document printed on NATO stationery, that the North American Treaty Organization was planning to move troops into Italy as a result of perceived political instability. Lombardi stated that he had received the document at the end of a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on 25 May 1970.
The document was later rejected as a forgery by both the Italian Foreign Ministry and NATO headquarters.