‘007’ Cable on Russian Funding of Foreign Political Parties Roils Rome

A State Department cable confirming that Russia has covertly spent more than $300 million on attempting to influence foreign political parties since 2014 has touched off a multifront firestorm in Italy less than two weeks before voters there go to the polls.Matteo Salvini’s populist Northern League party is already in the hot seat for alleged ties to Moscow that may have had a role in bringing down the government of Prime Minister Draghi, the crisis that precipitated a snap election now set for September 25. The present scandal also touches the Brothers of Italy party, led by frontrunner Giorgia Meloni, which is in a coalition with the League.The cable, which the Italian press has already dubbed the “US 007 report,” reads in part, “The Kremlin and its proxies have transferred these funds in an effort to shape foreign political environments in Moscow’s favor,” and the United States “will use official liaison channels with targeted countries to share still classified information about Russian activities targeting their political environments.” In a press conference, the state department spokesman, Ned Price, called Russian election interference “an assault on sovereignty.” Based on a state department summary of an American intelligence review that was dispatched to American embassies worldwide, the cable also noted that Russia has channeled its funds to at least two-dozen countries. The leading Roman newspaper, La Repubblica, made the bombshell claim that Mr. Draghi is already aware of the identity of some Italian politicians involved because, “urged by Italian intelligence, the Americans communicated it to him.” On Wednesday morning, the paper reported that Kurt Volker, an ambassador to NATO under President George W. Bush and special envoy to Ukraine under President Trump, said “the League’s and [Prime Minister] Berlusconi’s sympathies for Russia were known, but now the constant refrain is that the Brothers of Italy have also received some help.” That claim set off a separate round of fireworks: La Repubblica reported that Ms. Meloni said that she is now “ready to sue” both La Repubblica and “the former ambassador Volker.”Mr. Salvini is for the moment on the sidelines of the controversy because it is Ms. Meloni, the firebrand frontrunner tipped to replace Mr. Draghi, who has more at stake. In her public statements and interviews, she has been a staunch advocate for Ukraine. That is in sharp contrast with Mr. Salvini, who is derided by many as part of the Filoputiniana, the so-called friends of Vladimir Putin who seem to find common cause with the Russian strongman. Mr. Salvini, for example, has been photographed wearing a Putin T-shirt at Moscow and has publicly called for a rollback of sanctions on Russia, claiming they have hurt Italians. He has dismissed implications of League ties to the Kremlin as “fake news.”It was not immediately clear if any specific countries were mentioned in the State Department’s cable, and the Italian Parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, Urso, said that “at the moment there is no news that Italy is in the US 007 report.” Yet the timing of the cable could not be worse for Ms. Meloni. Her chief rival on the left, Enrico Letta, a former prime minister, pounced on the news, calling for “clarity” and saying, “Serious League relationship with united Russia. Cancel it.”The plot thickened with a call by Italy’s centrist foreign minister, the 36-year-old Luigi Di Maio, to “relaunch the Commission of Inquiry into Russian Interference.” Should any investigation find direct financial links between Moscow and the Northern League, it could conceivably cause the collapse of Ms. Meloni’s coalition before voters go to the polls in 10 days and, should Mr. Letta rally his fractured partners, potentially throw the election to the left or at the very least further down the calendar. With 11 governments under Rome’s belt in the past 20 years alone, it is no overstatement to say that anything can happen. In the days ahead the Italian intrigue will likely grow. That is partly because just what Washington will communicate to Rome, and what will be made public, remains to be seen. Also, any immediate effect on Ms. Meloni’s current robust standing in the polls, will not be publicly known due to Italy’s customary pre-election ban on the publication of opinion polls. That ban took effect on September 10.

‘007’ Cable on Russian Funding of Foreign Political Parties Roils Rome

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