Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Eugene

(61,937 posts)
Wed Jul 10, 2019, 02:44 PM Jul 2019

Revealed: The Explosive Secret Recording That Shows How Russia Tried To Funnel Millions To Salvini

Source: BuzzFeed News

Revealed: The Explosive Secret Recording That Shows How Russia Tried To Funnel Millions To The “European Trump”

A close aide to Italy's deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini held covert talks to pump Russian oil money to his far-right party. BuzzFeed News has the tape.

Alberto Nardelli
BuzzFeed News Europe Editor
Posted on July 10, 2019, at 6:00 a.m. ET

Six men sat down for a business meeting on the morning of October 18 last year, amid the hubbub and marble-columned opulence of Moscow’s iconic Metropol Hotel, to discuss plans for a “great alliance.”

A century earlier, the grand institution was the scene of events that helped change the face of Europe and the world: Czarist forces fought from inside the hotel as they tried and failed to hold the Bolsheviks back from the Kremlin in 1917, and it was here, in suite 217, that the first Soviet Constitution was drafted after the revolution succeeded.

The six men — three Russians, three Italians — gathered beneath the spectacular painted glass ceiling in the hotel lobby last October had their eyes on history too. Their nominal purpose was an oil deal; their real goal was to undermine liberal democracies and shape a new, nationalist Europe aligned with Moscow.

BuzzFeed News has obtained an explosive audio recording of the Metropol meeting in which a close aide of Europe’s most powerful far-right leader — Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini — and the other five men can be heard negotiating the terms of a deal to covertly channel tens of millions of dollars of Russian oil money to Salvini’s Lega party.

The recording reveals the elaborate lengths the two sides were willing to go to conceal the fact that the true beneficiary of the deal would be Salvini’s party — a breach of Italian electoral law, which bans political parties from accepting large foreign donations — despite the comfort with which he and Europe’s other far-right leaders publicly parade their pro-Kremlin political sympathies.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/albertonardelli/salvini-russia-oil-deal-secret-recording
2 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Revealed: The Explosive Secret Recording That Shows How Russia Tried To Funnel Millions To Salvini (Original Post) Eugene Jul 2019 OP
Why do I think we'll all have to learn Russian? The US is no longer sinkingfeeling Jul 2019 #1
How to kill democracy in 15 minutes or less mercuryblues Jul 2019 #2

sinkingfeeling

(51,469 posts)
1. Why do I think we'll all have to learn Russian? The US is no longer
Wed Jul 10, 2019, 02:47 PM
Jul 2019

leading the fight for democracy, but is aiding and abetting the Russian takeover.

mercuryblues

(14,537 posts)
2. How to kill democracy in 15 minutes or less
Wed Jul 10, 2019, 05:49 PM
Jul 2019

They are nothing but hired hitmen to kill democracy. The "joked" about gulags to re-educate

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/buzzfeednews/transcript-lega-russia-oil-deal-meeting

IT2: if you have any gulag, we can send you some from Italy. The gulag. Gulag. It’s a joke, but if you have a gulag, we send you a lot of people.
IT?: For reeducation.
IT?: Rehab.
RU?: Rehabilitation.
IT?: Mental rehabilitation.
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Foreign Affairs»Revealed: The Explosive S...