Secret recording: the Hungarian PM is a member of the pro-Russia European coalition

A secret recording released yesterday showed how a close aide to Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini held secret talks to pump Russian oil money to his Northern League party in 2018. Gianluca Savoini also mentioned that there was a forming European pro-Russia coalition preparing to win the 2019 EP elections and the Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán is one of its members.

According to the BuzzFeed, the website that published the audio recording and its transcript, six men sat down for a business meeting on the morning of October 18 last year in Moscow’s iconic Metropol Hotel. Three of them were Russians while the other three were Italians with Gianluca Savoini, a close aide and former spokesman of Italian deputy PM Matteo Salvini described in the Italian media as his Russian sherpa, among them. Buzzfeed says that the six men’s purpose was an oil deal, but their real goal was to undermine liberal democracies and

shape a new, nationalist Europe aligned with Moscow.

They were talking about a covert business deal during which Lukoil or Rosneft would sell oil to Italian ENI with the help of two intermediaries and with a significant discount. Salvini’s party, the Northern League, could spend the amount of the discount approx. Sixty-five million dollars) on winning the 2019 EP elections.

This is, of course, a breach of the Italian electoral law, which bans political parties from accepting large above 100 thousand EUR) foreign donations. Nevertheless, Savoini emphasised that the deal had to be executed as soon as possible since the EP elections approached quickly, so they needed the money.

Savoini stressed during the meeting that

they would like to change Europe

and create a new one that “has to be close to Russia as before because we want to have our sovereignty.” Savoini has listed European allies, as well, in the project. He said in faltering English that “Salvini is the first man that wants to change all Europe. Together with our allies and colleagues and other parties in Europe. Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs in Austria, German Alternative für Deutschland, France Madame Le Pen, and other countries the same, Hungaria with Orban, in Sweden Sverigedemokraterna. We have our allies. We really want