Pd signs no-confidence motion in Salvini

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 22 - The centre-left opposition Democratic Party (Pd) on Thursday signed the motion of no-confidence in Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini tabled by centrist opposition party Azione of Carlo Calenda in relation to his right-wing League party's ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin's party United Russia.
    The motion already has the support of the centre-left opposition Five Star Movement (M5S) led by former premier Giuseppe Conte.
    Salvini has been under fire in recent days for refusing to blame Putin for the death in a Siberian prison Friday of prominent dissident and opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as for the League's reported failure to formally sever ties to United Russia.
    Calenda said the League is "still pro-Putin, albeit less openly than in the past, out of political calculation" and that his party would file a no confidence motion in the deputy premier unless he formally announced that his party's ties to United Russia have been ended. (ANSA).