Customary of statements going against the grain of the pro-kyiv policy of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the leader of La Ligue (far right) reacted in front of journalists to the recent statements of Emmanuel Macron and the former President of the Italian Council Mario Monti, according to whom it could ultimately be “necessary” to send soldiers to Ukraine.
“They need to seek treatment,” said this close ally of Marine Le Pen. “Those who hold this opinion and say it as if it were something normal, and this applies to Macron as well as to Monti, are dangerous.”
“Yesterday, Putin, among other things, invited dialogue”
“If they want to fight so much, then let them go to Ukraine, tomorrow, they are waiting for them,” he added. Already in March, he had accused Emmanuel Macron of “representing a danger for our country and our continent”.
On the other hand, he welcomed the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin during his inauguration Tuesday in the Kremlin: “Yesterday, Putin, among other things, invited dialogue and I hope that 2024 will be the year of peace, not of soldiers leaving die in Ukraine.
Matteo Salvini overcame a motion of no confidence tabled in Parliament by the opposition at the beginning of April, accusing The League of not having cut ties with Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party after the Russian invasion in Ukraine. A long-time admirer of Vladimir Putin, he signed a five-year agreement with United Russia on March 6, 2017, which was automatically renewed in 2022.
Rome does not intend to send soldiers to Ukraine
If he condemned the Russian invasion of his neighbor, he also made controversial remarks on the re-election of Vladimir Putin (“When a people votes, they are always right”) or the death in prison of Alexeï Navalny, principal opposing the Russian president, believing that it was up to Russian “doctors and judges” to shed light on the circumstances of his death.
Asked to react to Salvini’s remarks, the head of diplomacy Antonio Tajani, also vice-president of the council, simply recalled that Rome had no intention of sending soldiers to Ukraine.
For La République en Marche MEP Sandro Gozi, “Salvini is very worried about his future in government, to the point of seizing every opportunity to become the Kremlin’s spokesperson.” The League, allied at European level with the French National Rally and the German AfD, is losing momentum and is credited with 8 to 8.5% of voting intentions in the June European elections.