Far-right populist leader Matteo Salvini has criticised the EU’s sanctions on Russia, calling them “badly executed” and arguing they are damaging European countries more than they are damaging Russia
A right-wing coalition led by the far-right Brothers of Italy party leads the polls ahead of Italy’s September 25 snap election, which follows the resignation of prime minister Mario Draghi in the summer.
A whopping 41 percent of voters have declared themselves undecided or were planning to abstain – it remains to be seen how many of them will turn up at the polls on Sunday. “On the one hand, she is trying to reassure Western leaders, while on the other hand she wants to look different and radical in Italy, particularly to her own followers,” he adds. “As far as the first is concerned, Meloni’s position has been resolutely pro-Western since [the war in Ukraine began] on February 24.
Back in March when the conflict began, the anti-migrant leader visited the Poland-Ukraine border in a show of support for Ukrainian refugees. The mayor of Przemysl, the border town where the majority of refugees crossed into Poland, confronted the Italian leader by holding up a t-shirt featuring a portrait of Putin – the same Salvini had been photographed wearing in Moscow in 2014.
In 2019, the League was accused of receiving money from Russian investors, after an audio recording emerged of one of his close aides discussing an oil deal with three unidentified Russians.