League leader Matteo Salvini said
Wednesday that he was working "out in the open" to bring about
peace in Ukraine amid controversy over reports of him meeting
the Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov after Moscow
invaded its neighbour.
"You have to work with the ambassadors and governments of many
countries, out in the open, communicating with newspapers and TV
channels, with the only goal being achieving the end of the
war," Salvini said.
"I have been doing this and I'll continue to do so.
"I hope I will be in the company of the many colleagues who over
the last few days have criticised me and chattered, but who
don't move a finger to achieve peace, preferring to talk about
weapons and war".
According to the report in daily newspaper Domani, Salvini had
dinner with Razov at the Russian embassy in Rome on March 1,
just days after Moscow's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, and
the office of Premier Mario Draghi knew nothing about the
meeting.
Salvini was reportedly accompanied by Antonio Capuano, a
foreign-policy advisor to the League leader who is also a lawyer
and a former MP for the centre-right Forza Italia party of
three-time ex-premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.
Capuano is said to have been working on a mooted trip to Moscow
by Salvini to seek to broker a peace agreement with a four-point
plan, an idea that has caused considerable controversy too.
The report in Domani said there were other meetings involving
Salvini, Capuano and Razov in the middle of March and early
April.
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which, like the League,
is part of the coalition supporting Draghi's government, has
demanded an explanation.
When asked Wednesday about an eventual peace mission by Salvini
to Moscow, Franco Gabrielli, the cabinet secretary with the
security portfolio and the former chief of police, said "such
initiatives are not the responsibility of the heads of parties,
but of the heads of government".
The League, on the other hand, said that "every initiative"
seeking to achieve peace in Ukraine "should be encouraged and
supported, not attacked, criticised or even investigated".
Adolfo Urso, the president of Copasir, the parliamentary body
that oversees Italy's intelligence services, said Tuesday that
the committee was looking into Capuano's reported relations with
foreign diplomats.
Salvini had expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir
Putin on several occasions before the war in Ukraine.
The League leader has condemned Moscow's invasion of its
neighbour.
He has also said he is not in favour of Italy sending any more
weapons to Kyiv on top of the ones it has already supplied.
Draghi said after a European Union summit Tuesday that Salvini's
actions must be "transparent" and that the government is not
wavering in its pro-European, pro-G7 and pro-NATO stance.
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