© Giuseppe Lami/EPAThe 85-year-old billionaire at the centre-right rally in Rome on 22 September. Berlusconi has long been close with the Russian president.
The Italian leader, whose Forza Italia party belongs to a right-wing coalition expected to win Sunday's parliamentary election on Sunday, is a long-time friend of Putin and his comments are likely to alarm Western allies.
"Putin was pushed by the Russian people, by his party, by his ministers to come up with this special operation," Berlusconi told Italian public television RAI late on Thursday, using the official Russian wording for the war.
Comment: As Putin said himself, he had little choice, Russia was backed into a corner by the West and to do nothing would have meant its destruction.
Russia's plan was originally to conquer Kyiv "in a week", and replace the democratically elected Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskiy with "a government of decent people" and get out "in another week," he said.
Comment: How exactly does Berlusconi know this? He doesn't. And there's no evidence to suggest Russia ever thought it would 'conquer' (if that is the term he used) Kiev in a week. That timeline doesn't even fit with Russia's strategy to preserve civilians lives, nor is it congruent with Russia's clear understanding that he was up against not just Ukraine, but its controllers in the West, who were unlikely going to cooperate.
"I haven't even understood why Russian troops spread around Ukraine while in my mind they should have only stuck around Kyiv", said the 85-year-old Berlusconi, who once described Putin as being like a younger brother.
Comment: The above reflects how little Berlusconi knows about Russia's strategy.
Putin's stated war aims have varied during the seven-month war. Ukraine initially chased his troops from the Kyiv area, and more recently from parts of the northeast near the Russia border.
Comment: The first move was a lure so that Russia could secure the Donbas, and the second was a tactical retreat: Special Military Operation, Season 2: Things Are Starting to Heat Up
Putin now says the main aim is to secure territory in the Donbas region partly controlled by pro-Russia separatists.
Facing widespread condemnation from opponents, Berlusconi released a statement on Friday saying his views had been "oversimplified".
"The aggression against Ukraine is unjustifiable and unacceptable, (Forza Italia's) position is clear. We will always be with the EU and NATO," he said.
Comment: His party has an election coming up, after all.
'TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS'
The leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, described Berlusconi's comments on the war as "scandalous".
"If on Sunday night the result is favourable to the right, the happiest person would be Putin," Letta told RAI radio.
Comment: What a ridiculous statement.
Centrist leader Carlo Calenda, another election contender, said on Radio24 said Berlusconi had spoken "like a Putin general".
Asked about Berlusconi's comments, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said he believed the former Italian premier liked "to take the side of the winners, and this is definitely not Russia and not Putin".
"I believe the Italian people, and specifically Mr. Berlusconi, are quite pragmatic and understand that, based on the current internal political situation in Russia and based on the situation at the front, it would be a mistake to support Russia in the medium term," Podolayak told Reuters.
Two pollsters Reuters spoke to downplayed suggestions that Berlusconi's statements were driven by electoral calculations.
"These kind of remarks shift very few votes, people are not very interested in foreign policy," said Renato Mannheimer, head of the Eumetra polling agency.
Comment: People are suffering soaring energy prices that will hasten the collapse of their economies, they may not be interested in foreign policy now, but they will soon be forced to face the consequences of it.
"I think he let slip something that he believes in but which he didn't want to say out loud," said Antonio Noto, head of Noto Sondaggi.
Under outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy has been a staunch supporter of Western sanctions on Russia following the invasion.
Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy, tipped as the next premier, has pledged to stick to that position, but her allies Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini of the League have been more ambivalent.
Berlusconi said on Thursday that Moscow's decision to invade followed an appeal by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, who allegedly told Putin, "please defend us, because if you do not defend us, we don't know where we could end up."
Voting began on Friday in four Ukrainian regions mostly held by Russian forces including the separatists, the start of a plan by Putin to annex a big chunk of Ukraine.
Comment: Indeed, those regions are, despite threats of shelling by Kiev, going to the voting booths, and, if they vote to join Russia, Russia will have a legitimate mandate to protect them with its military: