Matteo Salvini's far-Right League 'sought millions in funding' from Russian investors
Italy's far-Right League party sought tens of millions of euros in funding from Russian investors in a secret meeting where an aide close to Matteo Salvini, the party leader, said they "had to be close to Russia," a leaked tape has revealed.
The transcript of an hour-long meeting between Russian investors and an aide from Mr Salvini's League, obtained by the news website BuzzFeed, is the latest evidence of high-level collusion between far-Right European populist movements and Moscow.
According to BuzzFeed, the deal would involve a Russian oil company selling around three million metric tons of fuel to Italian oil company Eni over a year, with a value of around $1.5 bn.
Intermediaries would handle the buying and selling, adding a discount at the latter stage.
In a transcript published by BuzzFeed, six men - three Russian and three Italians - discuss funneling money from a Russian oil deal into the League's coffers.
When the existence of the Metropol meeting was reported by two Italian journalists earlier the year, Savoini and Salvini dismissed the story as a fantasy.
This recording blows those statements apart. pic.twitter.com/O0bdE7XcOC— Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) July 10, 2019
"It's very simple," one of the Italians is heard saying. "The planning made by our political guys was that given a four per cent discount, 250,000 [metric tons] plus 250,000 per month per one year, they can sustain a campaign.”
At another point in the tape, one Italian says of the deal: "We are going to have problems with AM (anti money laundering rules)"
In the same meeting, Salvini aide Gianluca Savoini is heard saying: "We want to change Europe...a new Europe has to be close to Russia as before because we want to have our sovereignty."
Last week Mr Savoini attended a Russian government dinner in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Mr Salvini did not attend the meeting where the oil deal was discussed, or the state dinner.
It remains unclear whether the deal went ahead or whether the League received any funding from Russian investors. Both Mr Savoini and Mr Salvini have refused to comment on BuzzFeed's allegations.
The news website said it had not been able to identify any of the Russians at the meeting, which was held at the Metropol hotel in Moscow.
The League has repeatedly denied receiving funding from foreign sources, which would be a serious breach of Italian electoral rules.
However, Mr Salvini has been frank about his support for the Russian government - after the European elections, he posed for a photograph with a picture of Vladimir Putin on his bookshelf in the background.
If money did change hands it would not be the first time a far-Right politician has accepted money from the Russians. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Assembly, took €11m in loans from Russian banks in 2014.
Brexit campaign financer Arron Banks has also been accused of discussing diamond and gold deals with the Russian embassy to fund the 2016 EU referendum and as a result is under investigation by the National Crime Agency. He vehemently denies the allegations.
And in Austria, far-Right FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache stepped down after he was filmed discussing a deal where public contracts would be swapped for Russian campaign support.
