Russia sanctions are costing Italy too much money, complains Salvini
ITALY put itself on a collision course with Britain and much of the EU yesterday after threatening to veto the renewal of sanctions against Russia.
During a visit to Moscow, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s staunchly pro-moscow deputy prime minister, said that Rome might block the renewal of sanctions that have been in place since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea.
The sanctions, including the freezing of assets of individuals, an embargo on weapons exports and financial restrictions, are due to expire in January.
Mr Salvini described the sanctions as “economic, social and cultural madness” and “an absurdity” that had cost Italian businesses “billions of euros”.
“If we are asked to confirm (the sanctions), we will say no,” Mr Salvini told a conference of business leaders in Moscow. Asked if the coalition government, which came to power in June, might veto the renewal of sanctions, Mr Salvini said: “We can only use the trump card of the veto once in Europe.”
That was a reference to the Italian government’s numerous battles with Brussels, from demanding more help with migrants and refugees, to pushing through a controversial budget that revolves around lavish spending on social welfare and generous tax breaks costing debt-laden Italy billions.
“There is the question of the budget, the question of migration,” Mr Salvini said. “We are counting on the fact that they are intelligent enough in Brussels to understand that they have gone over the top and that you have to return to good relations between the EU, Italy and Russia.”
Italy has been opposed to sanctions against Moscow for years, arguing that they hurt Italian businesses that export hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of luxury goods, furniture, fashion, food and wine to Russians.
Mr Salvini, who is the head of the hard-right Northern League as well as deputy prime minister and interior minister, is particularly pro-moscow. He said sanctions against Russia had resulted in “hundreds of millions of citizens and small and medium businessmen” paying a heavy price.
Underlining his affection for Vladimir Putin’s Russia, he said: “I feel at home in Russia in a way that I don’t in other European countries.”
In an apparent reference to Nato exercises in countries close to Russia, such as Poland and the Baltic republics, he said: “The problems of 2018 are to be solved sitting at a table – not with tanks at the borders.”
Mr Salvini, who has doubled his party’s support in the last few months with his stridently anti-migrant rhetoric, has previously said that the coalition is “not scared” of using its veto powers at Brussels in order to push the EU into lifting sanctions. Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime minister, who is due to travel to Moscow next week to meet Mr Putin, has also criticised EU sanctions.
Italy’s soft line towards Russia entails the risk of it being isolated within the EU because Britain and other countries are pushing for punitive measures against Russia for its aggression in eastern Ukraine, alleged interference in elections – most recently in Macedonia – and the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in March.
Italy is the only EU member that openly resists a new regime of sanctions against Moscow, according to a confidential document seen by Reuters.
Yelena Skripal, the mother of Sergei Skripal, said she is trying to get hold of a passport to see her son. The 90-yearold, speaking to the Daily Mirror, said she yearns to give him a hug but is still being kept in the dark by her family about how he was poisoned. She said: “I just want to see and hold my son again for one more time.”