The newsper “The stamp” of Turin publishes this Saturday new revelations about the relations “unholy” of the Silvio Berlusconi-Matteo Salvini duo with the Russian autocracy, in coalition with the leader of the Brothers of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni -a favorite with her 23.5% of popular support in the polls- so that the center-right wins the elections on 25 September and become the first female head of an Italian government.
Meloni, far-right and sovereignist, has avoided the serious scandal by fully supporting the line of resigning Prime Minister Mario Draghi of identification with the hard Western line of the US and European countries against the invasion of Ukraine by President Vladimir Putin and the shipment of weons to the attacked country.
The particular relations of Berlusconi and Salvini with Putin they are denied by both in their most compromising aspects.
Today, “The stamp” targets former four-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, many years ago Putin’s buddy.
At the end of May, when a Salvini emissary was organizing a mission for the leader of the League to Moscow, “chance wills”, writes the newsper, which after a period in which he had vaguely cooled his relationship with Putin, even criticizing his invasion Of Ukraine, Berlusconi changed lines.
“I believe that Europe should make a common peace proposal seeking that the Ukrainians accept Putin’s demands.” said.
A few days earlier he had criticized US President Joe Biden and the shipment of weons to Ukraine decided by the Draghi government. “Putin does not deal with the one who accuses him of being a criminal and if we send weons, we are also at war”declared Berlusconi, putting himself once again definitively under the Putin wing.
“The stamp” published revelations on Friday about Matteo Salvini, leader of La Liga (14.5% in the polls), which have caused a huge stir because he claims to rely on information from the intelligence services.
About Salvini’s close relationship with the Russian president No doubtyes In Parliament he went so far as to say that “I exchange half Putin for two Mattarella”, which is the name of the president of Italy.
Right-wing Matteo Salvini, a former friend of the Kremlin autocrat who withdrew support from Mario Draghi. EFE
The main revelation was last May 27 and 28, when Salvini arranged a trip to Moscow to see Putin and other high-ranking Russian personalities, for which he had received money from the embassy. That meeting did not materialize due to the noisy political opposition and from the Draghi government itself to Salvini’s journey.
“The stamp” points out that, according to intelligence documents, the high official of the Russian diplomatic headquarters in Rome, Oleg Kostyukov, sued Antonio Cuano, Salvini’s emissary, if the three League ministers in the cabinet of national unity “have the intention of resign from the Draghi government”.
These words were read as a concrete Russian attempt to put pressure on Russia’s friends to destabilize Italy and the entire Western Front.
The Americans tried to “mark and strengthen” the maneuver. The fatal events occurred on July 21 with the fall of Draghi after the Berlusconi and Salvini parties that supported him they withdrew their support.
Turning to Berlusconi, the leader of Forza Italia (8% in the polls) made another statement that is very welcome by Moscow. “We have done a lot of harm to the Russian economy,” but “they also did us harm.” “The stamp” comments, “Apparently a never-extinguished love blossomed again.”
On Wednesday the 21st, when the crisis began that led to the fall of Draghi in Parliament, abandoned by the parties of Salvini and Berlusconi, there was no way to find the former Cavallieri to convince him to continue supporting Draghi.
For years Americans have been concerned about the relationship between Putin and Berlusconi. “The stamp” he asks: “What personal investments bring them together and can guide their foreign policy choices?”.
The Georgian ambassador told that newsper that his government considers that Putin promised Berlusconi a profit percentage of ducts manufactured by the Russian Gazprom in coordination with the Italian giant ENI. Berlusconi always denied “and the Georgian ambassador never denied it”.
In the long Berlusconian era in power, the ENI signed an agreement in May 2005 allowing Gazprom Export to resell Russian gas directly to consumers. The business had opaque aspects that three years later made the European Commission intervene. The deal was cancelled.
“The stamp” refers to rumors of a Kazakh gas field directly controlled by Berlusconi, who denied everything. “It’s nonsense,” he said.
A key man for Silvio in the media ventures was Angelo Codignoni, who according to the Turin daily instructed Yuri Koalchuk, a famous Putinian oligarch, on how to create the Kremlin’s TV empire.
Kovalchuk was the Major shareholder of Bank Rossiya. Codignoni peared as the beneficiary of a series of million-dollar money transfers from Russia to three offshore companies based in Monte Carlo.
Society. The former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi (c), poses with the leader of the far-right Northern League party, Matteo Salvini (l), and the leader of the Brothers of Italy Party, Giorgia Meloni (d), in the restaurant “La trattoria del Cavaliere” in Catania (Italy) during an electoral dinner organized in support of the Forza Italia candidate for the Sicilian presidency yesterday, November 2, 2017. EFE/ Livio Anticoli EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES Catania Italy Silvio Berlusconi Matteo Salvini Giorgia Meloni dinner electoral campaign organized in support of the candidate Forza Italia, former political prime minister, former leader of the far-right party. goose
“The stamp” notes that the Russian transactions to Berlusconi’s man are still being studied by international investigative journalists, even though Codignoni died last year.
“How much traces of Berlusconi’s past remain in Russia?”, asks the newsper. “Energy was everything to the Berlusconi-Putin relationship,” she adds.
But also entertainment and real estate business in Italy. Katya and Masha, the daughters of the Russian president, went from vacation to Berlusconi’s stupendous mansion in Porto Rotondo. She was accompanied by Barbara, the youngest daughter of the billionaire owner of television networks, the Mondadori publishing house and a thousand other businesses.
A year later, in 2003, Vladimir Putin himself also came on vacation, to another mansion, in Villa Certosa. Meanwhile, Gazprom, the giant Russian gas producer, signed thirty-year contracts with the ENI.
“Those were the years in which the Costa Smeralda became a paradise for the Russian oligarchs. One of them wanted to buy from Berlusconi the Milan football company, one of the most important in Italy. It was Alisher Usmanov, who bought seven fantastic villas, seized after the invasion of Ukraine by the Draghi government”, recalls “La Stampa”.
In the days of crisis that have preceded the fall of Draghi, the dissolution of the chambers and the call for general elections, Berlusconi settled in his Roman Villa Grande. There he commented to several of his interlocutors who accompanied him: “I spoke with the Russian ambassador to Italy, Razov. He explained to me what (Volodimir) Zelensky did”, the ukrainian president.
“He told me that it was Ukraine that caused twenty thousand deaths in the combat zones and that the invasion was necessary because the risk was Ukraine invading Russia.”
The anecdote was narrated by one of the interlocutors to the newsper “The Republic” who published it. Berlusconi. he said that he did not know the Russian ambassador. Draghi went down soon after.
