After the start of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine,
Gianni Alemanno, former mayor of Rome, spoke out for a stop to sending arms to Ukraine and for negotiations with Russia, accusing
NATO of provoking Russia during the past years. On 27 May 2022, he was among the organisers of the conference 'Stop the war' (). In August 2022, he refused to stand as a candidate in
Brothers of Italy, his former party, accusing
centre-right leaders of having different positions from his on the Ukrainian conflict. In September he was appointed spokesman for the 'Stop the War' committee, born out of the conference organised months earlier and in which some former
National Alliance parliamentarians such as Marcello Taglialatela, Francesco Biava and
Marco Martinelli were active, in which Alemanno criticised the sanctions against Russia, describing them as counterproductive for the Italian economy. In the summer of 2023, he supported the 'Committee Reject the War' () and the Committee 'Future Generations' for two petitions for a referendum on stopping the sending of arms to Ukraine, failing to collect 500,000 signatures. On 29 and 30 July he launched the Forum for Italian Independence in
Orvieto, where he criticised
Giorgia Meloni and
Brothers of Italy. On 25 and 26 November Alemanno launched Independence, unveiling the party logo and declaring his intention to participate in the next European elections. Present at the party's founding assembly were
Cateno De Luca, leader of
South calls North, and
Marco Rizzo, leader of
Sovereign Popular Democracy, with whom Alemanno said they both shared common ideas. Alemanno criticised the
Meloni government as the most
Atlanticist in the history of the Italian Republic, claiming his movement to be close to
ultraconservatism. Independence was joined by former
CasaPound leader Simone Di Stefano, Massimo Arlechino, Fabio Granata, Marcello Taglialatela, and Nicola Colosimo, spokesman for 'Magnitudo'. ==Leadership==