Italy’s coalition sends mixed messages on Ukraine and Russia
Italian voters are ambivalent, so the government is too
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s populist deputy prime minister, is again beating the drum for Vladimir Putin. At a meeting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 2015, the leader of the hard-right League party famously wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the Russian president’s face. He also once said he would like to have Mr Putin as Italy’s prime minister “tomorrow”. But on joining Giorgia Meloni’s avowedly pro-Ukrainian coalition government in 2022, eight months after the invasion, Mr Salvini had to tone down the hero-worship.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Mixed messages”
From the September 13th 2025 edition
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