(by Andrea Pinto) Tomorrow morning the Undersecretary for Services, Franco Gabrielli he will report to Copasir on the story of the alleged Russian loans to political parties and leaders of about 20 foreign countries. The alarm was raised by the 007 in Washington on the 'soft power'exercised by Moscow, secretly transferring over 2014 million dollars since 300, the year of the occupation of Crimea, to parties, leaders and politicians in over twenty countries.
The President of the Parliamentary Committee (Copasir), Adolfo Urso on the affair he said that "at the moment there is no news that there is Italy " among the countries involved, "but things can always change ".
Yesterday the spokesman for the US State Department, Ned price, he said: "we will share classified intelligence information gathered on Russia's activities to influence political processes in democracies with allied countries".
The classified US report, writes Repubblica, was drafted by the National Security Council of the White House and is composed of a combination of information from intelligence e open source.
The logic of the State Department, explained to Repubblica by an American official: "We will not go into specific intelligence information, but we have been clear about our concern for the activity of Russia to influence the democratic process in various countries of the world, including the United States. Our concern for Moscow's work in this regard is not a country's concern, but a global one as we continue to face its challenges against democratic societies. Secret Russian political influence poses a major challenge for the US and other democracies around the world. We have worked to expose it as we discover it. We have, and will continue to work with our allies and partners around the world, to denounce Russia's malicious influence efforts and help other countries defend against this activity. ".
Suspicions arise about Washington's "timing"
The aspect that arouses sinister suspicions to many observers is the timing with which the stars and stripes intelligence has made the news public, through the WP. Also because the American intelligence activity on Russian interference in the internal "affairs" of foreign countries was known and monitored for years by the 007 of the White House but also by the services of other Western countries.
Perhaps in Wahington the victory announced by the polls of the CDX coalition in Italy is not welcome? Don't they trust Meloni's promises of loyalty to NATO and the USA?
Doubts that arise spontaneously ten days after the Italian political vote. Even more decisive, however, is the internal debate that is fueling and worsening, day by day, between the various political parties in Italy. Instead of promising complaints, our politicians would do well to get one mea culpa because the story of Russian interference is very serious, national security is at stake. The inferences made by some politicians:
"The dossier may not be one", highlighted the foreign minister Luigi Di Maio, according to which "if there are any parties that have taken money from Putin, they are probably those that have made us addicted to Putin's gas ".
We hope that Di Maio has only raved about it because it would be a scandal not just to see in some time that the disinterest of the governments that have succeeded in extracting our own gas in the Adriatic is the result of under-the-table agreements with Moscow. How to explain to the Italians that they could have paid for gas at 5 cents per meter instead of the current 70? (reportage by Mario Giordano during the transmission Fuori dal Coro on Rete4: out of 1500 Italian platforms at sea they extract only half of gas: 755 are unused, abandoned).
The crucial point is to have ascertained, if ever the payment of Russian money into the coffers of foreign entities were really found, that Russia for years was preparing the attack on the West by applying its new doctrine based on a war that is no longer conventional but aimed at manipulation of the public opinion of the adversaries through the activations of crisis in the vital sectors of the nations. Control of the flows of migrants from Africa, of energy sources, of wheat / wheat and fertilizers and upset of the world order with the search for new commercial markets, in an anti-Western function are just some of the levers that Moscow has begun to to spend time with the anti-Soviet bloc which, despite the historical digregation of the 80s, is still firmly in the genes of today's Tsar, Vladimir Putin.
The debate in Italy
"Names out before September 25th“, Warn Verdi and Sinistra who presented a complaint to the Rome prosecutor's office. "Beyond this story, it is serious that the League has not terminated its relationship, its twinning with united Russia", The accusation of the secretary dem Enrico Letta, referring to the political agreement signed in spring 2017 by the party of Matteo Salvini with that of Vladimir Putin.
"Never asked for and never took rubles, euros, dinars, dollars from Russia", the piqued response of the League secretary who announces complaints, rejects the "fake news", and does not break down in front of the tweet (partially modified during the night) of Guido Crosetto, of FdI, which he defined "high treason" take money from Russia.
"More than anything else, it is illegal to borrow from abroad. Those who help us economically are Italian citizens"Comments Salvini, showing off the medal of thanks of the Republic of Armenia:"These are the foreign influences that I like ".
In his coalition, he first counterattacks FdI claiming that "the USSR dominated half of Europe and influenced the other half. The whole left has never apologized for this illegally received money". And then Silvio Berlusconi: "Forza Italia is of course not involved in this matter in any way. And the only funds from Moscow that have so far been demonstrated and ascertained are those that the PCI has collected ”.
"There is no possibility that the M5s can be involved and suffer interference of this type", clarifies Giuseppe Conte, while Italy alive raises "an unanswered question since 2016: was there or was there no foreign influence on the constitutional referendum as it was ascertained for Brexit?".
The prudence of Brussels
Ursula von der Leyen, in his State of the Union address, he highlighted the need for "Do not lose sight of the way in which foreign autocrats target our countries". “Foreign entities finance institutions that undermine our values. We will present a 'package for the defense of democracy'. It will bring to light occult foreign influences and shady funding. We will not allow any Trojan horse of the autocracy to attack our democracies from within ".
Also the President of the European Parliament, Robert Metsol expresses "great concern "for foreign interference, adding that the Russian ones can "potentially change the outcome of elections: for me it is the greatest threat of instability we have in the EU".