Pincer Movement Afoot To Take Down Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Salvini, Lega Leader

July 18, 2019 (EIRNS)—What the Italian media have renamed “Moscopoli” (the “Russiagate” against Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini) is now being carried out at two levels, the judicial and the political.

Prosecutors in Milan (two of them from the “Mani Pulite” [“Clean Hands”] old guard) have searched the houses of two individuals who participated in the famous October, 2018 meeting at the Metropolitan hotel in Moscow, with Salvini’s friend Gianluca Savoini and alleged Russian emissaries. Numerous media reports allege that the meeting was to arrange a secret oil deal with the Russians, that would siphon money off to the Lega. The head of the prosecution office, Francesco Greco, said that they won’t interrogate Salvini—for the moment. It will be a long investigation, Greco said.

The Parliament Intelligence Oversight Commission (COPASIR) questioned Foreign Intelligence (AISE) head Gen. Luciano Carta yesterday, who said his agency had been monitoring Savoini for some time. AISE has generally monitored Russian “dense” activities in Italy, Carta said. COPASIR is chaired by a Democratic Party member, who said they want to pursue their investigation on “Moscopoli” and they might want to hear from Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Whereas Salvini said he will not report to Parliament outside of the regular reports already scheduled, Conte announced that he will speak on Moscopoli before Parliament on July 24.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels today, Salvini compared Moscopoli to Russiagate. “They have been after Trump for two years and found nothing,” and “nothing happens accidentally. If they go after Trump, they easily can go after me.” Investigators won’t find anything, except that “Putin is a great leader.”