ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - Italian Prime ​Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her on Friday, after ‌the U.S. President told an Italian TV channel that she had "begged" him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit.

Meloni said she was "astonished" by his comments, which were "completely made up". She also chided him for acting with far greater deference to the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.

Video from the event in ​France showed Meloni and Trump deep in conversation, sitting side-by-side on a small sofa, but the U.S. leader suggested he had merely indulged her by chatting ​with her.

"She's probably happy I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her," Trump was quoted as saying by La7 TV channel in a brief interview, after he himself asked the journalist about Italy's prime minister.

"She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so ​badly. I wouldn't have taken it, but I felt sorry for her," Trump said, according to La7's translation.