The secretary of the Democratic Party Nicola Zingaretti commented the abstention of the members of the League in the European Parliament on the resolution calling for sanctions on Belarus for the violent repression of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko:
In Brussels, the League abstained on the sentence to a dictator. How disgusting. #Lukashenko
– Nicola Zingaretti (@nzingaretti) September 17, 2020
The European Parliament adopted a resolution by a majority calling for new presidential elections in Belarus. The resolution obtained 574 votes in favor, 37 against and 82 abstentions, including those of the parliamentarians of the League. They are also not recognized in the resolution the official results of the “so-called presidential elections” in Belarus on 9 August of this year. According to the European Parliament, these elections were held in “violation of all internationally recognized standards”. When Lukashenko’s mandate expires on 5 November, the European Parliament will no longer recognize him as president of Belarus.
In the same session, a separate resolution was voted in which the European Parliament calls for an international investigation into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the main opponent of Vladimir Putin, who is suspected to be the instigator of the poisoning. This resolution was passed Thursday with 532 votes in favor, 84 against and 72 abstentions. League MPs voted against the resolution.
The League’s choice not to take sides openly against the president of Belarus, a historical ally of Russia, or against those responsible for poisoning Vladimir Putin’s main opponent was considered a sort of “favor” to Russia. The leader of the League Matteo Salvini has never made a secret of his political proximity to Putin and between the League and the Kremlin there have been documented relations, as in the case ofmeeting in Moscow in October 2018 between Gianluca Savoini, Matteo Salvini’s collaborator and president of the Lombardy-Russia association, and some Russian officials.
For that meeting Savoini is under investigation for international corruption for a suspected oil sale that would have been negotiated, before, after and during that meeting, between the member of the League and Russian officials, in order to illegally get millions of euros to the party from Russia.
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