Putin has won in Italy

A reading of the Italian elections cannot be separated from the war in Ukraine or Putin's role in European politics.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
27 September 2022 Tuesday 17:36
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Putin has won in Italy

A reading of the Italian elections cannot be separated from the war in Ukraine or Putin's role in European politics. The Kremlin's reaction to Giorgia Meloni's clear victory is almost brotherly. "We are ready to welcome any political force capable of looking beyond the mainstream, full of hatred for our country," Putin's spokesman said.

Far-right parties are flourishing throughout Europe and the relations between them have been evidenced in the complicity they have woven with Putin's Russia and in a Euroscepticism shared by the governments of Poland, Hungary and possibly the one formed in Sweden after the results from a month ago, in which the Sweden Democrats came second with 20.6 percent of the vote.

Congratulations from Marine Le Pen and Alternative for Germany have been effusive. From Sweden to Italy, they maintain, the way of relating to the Europe of Brussels is changing. They do not want to leave, but they do want to impose other criteria, more populist and nationalist, that collide in matters as delicate as immigration, solidarity and freedoms.

The pervasiveness of Putin's idea of ​​undermining Western and particularly European democracies is very well analyzed in Catherine Belton's book, Putin's Men, a 900-page volume describing Putin's obsession with undermining the Western democracies using a vast network of KGB bigwigs who have been with him since he was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. Not with ideas, but with information, money and blackmail.

The oligarchs who dismantled the regime under Yeltsin's presidency became billionaires and bought the big energy companies at rock-bottom prices. Mikhail Khodorkovsky became the richest person in Russia, stronger than the State itself. When Putin came to power he dispossessed him of his fortune, put him on trial and spent ten years in a Siberian jail. The new oligarchs would be those of Putin, those of the State, all controlled by the KGB and the old comrades of the president with all the extensions and franchises of him.

Catherine Belton enumerates the billions of dollars that left Russia to be deposited in Western banks and companies from where politicians, businessmen and journalists would be bought to defend Putin's idea of ​​Russia and that goes through the weakening of institutions and European democratic governments. This strategy served to support Brexit and for Donald Trump to win the 2016 elections.

Putin had long enjoyed the friendship of Silvio Berlusconi. The two vacationed together in Sardinia and Berlusconi was a frequent guest at Putin's residence in Sochi. Berlusconi's connection with Russia dates back to Soviet times.

A few days ago, on the campaign trail, Berlusconi said that Putin only wanted to enter Kyiv and change the Zelensky government to one made up of decent people. Salvini's party was accused of being financed by Russian companies. Meloni has not shown as much enthusiasm for Putin in the campaign as his allies and has condemned the invasion, while positioning himself with the postulates of NATO.

Putin is losing the war in the lands and cities of Ukraine, but he is winning battles in destabilizing the West. The deep divisions in practically all liberal democracies do not have a single cause, although the interference of Russia, with many millions of euros to buy wills, has had a great weight. Russian black money networks were embedded in part of the system of democracies to enhance sympathy for Russia and foment confrontation in the West.

The Italian elections are the result of the will of the citizens who turned out to vote on Sunday, even if it was with the lowest turnout in post-war history. It is a legitimate and unquestionable victory.

But the new government headed by Meloni will have to count on the ballast of old comrades Berlusconi and Salvini, who have fraternized politically with Putin's Kremlin. For Europe it is a new difficulty, but for Zelensky it is the danger that cracks will open in the West in its support for Ukraine.