Russian links to Italian right threaten Meloni’s
election campaign
Opponents of the right are demanding to know if
Vladimir Putin brought down Mario Draghi’s government.
BY HANNAH
ROBERTS
July 29,
2022 2:35 pm
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-link-italy-giorgia-meloni-election-campaign/
ROME —
After Mario Draghi’s coalition government collapsed, plunging Italy into fresh
turmoil, an unsettling question is hanging in the air: was the Kremlin
involved?
Two
incidents involving contact between right-wing party chiefs and Russian
diplomats have triggered a round of finger-pointing in Rome as the election
campaign gets into gear.
The row
threatens to damage the standing of Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the popular
far-right Brothers of Italy party, who stands to become prime minister at the
head of a new right-wing coalition after the poll on September 25.
At stake
more broadly is Italy’s international reputation and the question of whether
Rome will remain a solid and dependable part of the Western alliance against
Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
In the
first incident, in May a Russian embassy official asked a foreign affairs
adviser to Matteo Salvini — Meloni’s ally in the far-right League party — if he
intended to pull his ministers out of Draghi’s coalition, according to La
Stampa newspaper on Thursday, which cited intelligence reports.
The second
incident centers on Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former PM and a long-time ally
of Putin’s. Berlusconi, who leads the center-right Forza Italia party, spoke to
the Russian ambassador on the day that he withdrew his backing for Draghi’s
government, according to reports in La Repubblica on Friday.
Salvini has
dismissed the report and Berlusconi is yet to comment. But opponents of the
right are kicking up a fuss.
Enrico
Letta, leader of the center-left Democratic Party, and former PM Matteo Renzi
called for an investigation by the parliamentary intelligence committee. “The
election campaign is beginning in the worst possible way,” Letta said. “We want
to know whether it was Putin who brought down the Draghi government. If that was
the case it would be of the utmost gravity.”
Lia
Quartapelle, foreign affairs spokesman for the Democrats, told POLITICO that
the reports were “scandalous” and would not help Meloni’s chances of becoming
PM. “Allies will be watching with great concern I imagine. If any government
spoke like this even to the U.S. embassy in this way it would be a problem, and
we are talking about the Russian embassy.” Quartapelle said that the reports on
Salvini or Berlusconi would not improve Meloni’s chance of becoming prime
minister, but were damaging for the entire right.
The
newspapers’ reports reinforce the impression that Italy’s right-wingers are too
close to Putin.
Both
Salvini and Berlusconi have well-established relationships with the Russians.
Over the years Salvini has often expressed his admiration for Putin, saying he
could be prime minister of Italy, and wore a T-shirt of Putin’s face to the
European Parliament. Salvini has also spoken out against sending more arms to
Ukraine.
Salvini was
forced to cancel a “peace mission” to Russia in May after it emerged that his
parallel diplomacy effort did not have government authorization, and the
Russian embassy had paid for his flight to Moscow.
As for
Berlusconi, he was reportedly critical of Draghi’s position on Ukraine after
the call with the Russian ambassador, who claimed that the invasion was
necessary because the risk was that Ukraine would attack Russia.
In his time
as prime minister, Berlusconi established a personal rapport as well as a
political friendship with Putin based on shared economic interests. His criticism
of Putin since the invasion has been muted, only saying that he was
disappointed in the Russian leader.
Their
ambivalence over Ukraine may appeal to a substantial chunk of voters who are
against sending weapons to Kyiv and who regard Russia and Ukraine as equally at
fault.
Salvini’s
political stronghold includes the Italian northern manufacturing power base
that does a lot of business with Russia and is being harmed by sanctions.
But the
ambiguity is likely to harm the credibility of Salvini and Berlusconi’s ally on
the right, Meloni, who is leading the polls. She has taken a clearly pro-NATO
position that Russia is the aggressor since the beginning of the war, as she
attempts to portray herself as a respectable and safe pair of hands.
“If a new
Italian government is more sympathetic to Russia, it would be a concern to
Italy’s allies,” historian Margaret MacMillan, professor at Oxford University,
told POLITICO, adding that the Americans will likely be watching with alarm.
“Italy could be placing itself in the same pro-Russian camp as Hungary and
Serbia and become a concern for Germany and France.”
Salvini
dismissed the reports and the concerns as propaganda from the left. He told MPs
in a message: “A desperate and divided left, with some foolish servant in some
newsroom, passes their time to look for fascists, Russians and racists which
don’t exist. The 25th September finally we will have change.”
A League
spokesman said that the person who spoke to the Russian embassy official,
Antonio Capuano, has never been a formal part of the League, although has
advised them from time to time.
A spokesman
for Berlusconi did not immediately return requests for comment.
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