One European leader wants to be Trump and Putin’s other BFF

The reviews are rolling in on Donald Trump’s cozy one-on-one with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, with most observers calling it the biggest foreign policy dumpster fire yet of his chaotic presidency. But in Europe, at least one high-profile onlooker liked what he saw.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, a nationalist strongman in the mold of the Russian and American presidents, was so impressed with the display on Monday that he invited the two leaders to hold their next summit in Italy.

“Good job, Presidents!” the head of the far-right League wrote on his Facebook page. “I would like the next summit to take place in Italy so that they [Putin and Trump] can speak with strength and courage about security, peace, work, and economic growth.” Indeed, Trump sided with Putin over his own intelligence agencies on the issue of Russian election meddling, and he now faces intense criticism for it.

Salvini, an immigration hard-liner who has emerged as Italy’s most influential politician since he became deputy prime minister last month, is a longstanding admirer of both Putin and Trump, and has vowed that his coalition government will pursue pro-Russian policies.

Marco Guili, a policy analyst at the European Policy Center, told VICE News that Salvini was seeking to boost his standing among Italian voters by positioning himself alongside the two nationalist leaders in Helsinki, whose nativist rhetoric reflected his own politics.

“He’s capitalizing by promoting himself as a member of this sort of ‘Internationale of nationalists,’ whether it actually exists or not,” he said. “He’s benefiting by promoting himself as someone who might be friendly with Putin, Trump, or [Hungary’s nationalist leader Viktor] Orban.”

Salvini was in Moscow Monday to meet his counterpart, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, having attended the World Cup final the previous day. Speaking at a press conference, Salvini ramped up his calls for the European Union to drop its sanctions against Russia, imposed following the annexation of Crimea and aggression in Ukraine.

Salvini has called for the sanctions to be lifted before, but on Monday he ratcheted up his demands – saying he wanted them gone by the end of the year, and that he could be prepared to use Italy’s veto power in the European Union to achieve this.

"Vetoes are only a last resort, but I am not excluding anything," he told reporters.

Salvini, whose coalition government is seen as one of the Kremlin’s strongest supporters in Europe, said Italy had suffered more than any other European country as a result of the sanctions. Russia banned many food imports from the European Union in retaliation for the sanctions, impacting Italy’s agricultural sector.

Salvini also repeated his calls for Russia to be readmitted to the G-8, saying such a move would be "absolutely legitimate" – echoing a similar suggestion from Trump last month.

The Italian nationalist, who shot into government last month on the back of a hard-line anti-immigration platform, has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Putin. Earlier this month, he told a crowd that “Italy could do with dozens of men like [Putin], who act in the interest of their citizens”; when in opposition, he repeatedly met with the Russian leader and was photographed wearing a T-shirt bearing his image in Moscow. He has also previously offered to host joint U.S.-Russia talks.

Giuli said Putin was popular among the Italian electorate, many of whom admired what was perceived at a distance as the Russian leader’s strong, effective leadership – in contrast with their own messy democracy.

“There’s a perception of Putin as an effective leader, and of Russia as a country with effective leadership with national interest at the forefront,” he said. “Italians often feel disappointed by their own leadership.”

But Giuli said he believed Salvini’s demands for sanctions against Russia to be lifted were mere posturing, given that his government had recently consented to an extension of the sanctions until next year. “The whole idea of Italy taking unilateral leadership over this issue does not seem very realistic,” he said.

Cover image: Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini speaks during the press conference at Viminale Palace in Rome, Italy, 05 July 2018. ANSA/MASSIMO PERCOSSI (ANSA via AP)