The Italian newspaper La Stampa published an article that "Russian shadows" may be behind the crisis in the countryʼs government — the far-right League party allegedly held talks with the Russian embassy about the possibility of leaving the coalition and its subsequent collapse.
The article is about the alleged connections of Antonio Capuano, adviser to the chairman of the "League" Matteo Salvini, with Igor Kostyukov, an employee of the Russian embassy. The connection between them was allegedly confirmed by intelligence documents.
The newspaper writes that the diplomat and Capuano met at the end of May in Rome. Then Capuano discussed with Kostyukov the possibility of the collapse of the government coalition, which included the "League". This meeting took place at the same time that Salvini was criticized for conducting parallel diplomacy with Russia regarding the war in Ukraine.
The newspaper also writes that the Russian embassy and Kostyukov in particular were responsible for Matteo Salviniʼs trip to Moscow in June, which ultimately broke down. During his visit to Russia, Salvini was supposed to conduct peace negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine, and the Russian embassy purchased the flight tickets.
Salvini himself declared about "fake news", explaining the accusations as slander at the beginning of the election campaign on September 25.
- The League pulled out of the coalition government last week along with Silvio Berlusconiʼs Forza Italia and the populist Five Star Movement, leading to Draghiʼs resignation (the next prime ministerial election is on September 25).
- On July 21, Italian President Sergio Mattarella signed a decree on the dissolution of the parliament.