The Kremlin’s animosity toward Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been repeatedly demonstrated through public attacks and insults directed at her by pro-government Russian propagandists. Russia is displeased with the consistent policy of the Italian official, who has done a great deal to reduce Italy’s energy dependence on the Russian Federation, not to mention her support for Ukraine and anti-Russian sanctions. The Kremlin is banking on weakening her position through pro-Russian Vice Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who, as a junior coalition partner, openly lobbies for Russian interests and saboteures the Prime Minister’s decisions. Furthermore, concurrently serving as Minister of Infrastructure, he has made numerous questionable and ineffective decisions that have resulted in significant budget losses.
The falling approval ratings of the League political party, which he represents, destabilize the government coalition and negatively impact the image of G. Meloni herself. Aware of the inevitability of the ruling coalition’s collapse in its current format, the Italian Prime Minister is forced to resort to crisis management to preserve her personal power and authority ahead of the 2027 parliamentary elections.
Since coming to power, Giorgia Meloni has fought for the trust of allies, trying to prove to the EU and the US that her government is not the West’s weak link on key international and security issues. It was at her initiative that the government pursued a course towards complete diversification and Italy’s abandonment of Russian gas and oil, replacing them with energy supplies from North Africa.
The stance of Vice Prime Minister M. Salvini, as a junior partner in the coalition, contradicts G. Meloni’s vision, which only intensifies the internal rift and hinders the implementation of a consolidated government policy. The pro-Russian politician endlessly criticizes EU sanctions, claiming they harm Italian business more than the Russian economy. While G. Meloni facilitates the allocation of military aid to Ukraine, her deputy permits himself aggressive attacks against this country fighting for its independence. In January 2026, he issued a statement calling on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to immediately sign a capitulatory peace agreement with Russia, forcing a choice between defeat and destruction—a move that triggered widespread resonance and a negative reaction from the Ukrainian side and its European allies.
M. Salvini’s pro-Russian nature is the result of years of ideological and behind-the-scenes integration and cooperation between his League party and Russian elites. The Vice Prime Minister, who once demonstratively posed in Moscow’s Red Square wearing a T-shirt featuring Vladimir Putin’s face, spent years establishing channels for shadow funding of the Italian far-right in exchange for lobbying Russian energy interests. This culminated in the League signing a cooperation agreement with the ruling United Russia party in 2017. Even the international outcry that arose in October 2018—following investigations by the Italian magazine L’Espresso and the American outlet BuzzFeed regarding secret talks at Moscow’s Metropol Hotel, where Salvini’s associates discussed schemes to receive tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Kremlin through discounted oil contracts—did not prompt him to even deny the published information. This background makes him an ideal tool of influence for the Kremlin. Amid the rapid decline of his own ratings, M. Salvini is working off old debts to the Russians, attempting to score additional political points through pro-Russian rhetoric and lobbying for Kremlin interests.
The Vice Prime Minister has attempted to sabotage G. Meloni’s initiatives aimed at strengthening anti-Russian restrictions and supporting Ukraine. In December 2025, he refused to support the EU’s seizure of profits from frozen Russian assets for their subsequent transfer to Ukraine, calling the confiscation of Russian property a “dangerous gamble.” During a Council of Ministers meeting in February 2026, M. Salvini tried to block the inclusion of a stance supporting Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration into a joint government declaration, claiming that Kyiv’s membership in the EU and NATO would allegedly trigger an inevitable financial catastrophe for Italy’s agricultural sector and serve as a step toward World War III.
In the sphere of energy security, M. Salvini is obstructing the implementation of the EU’s REPowerEU strategic plan, which entails complete diversification and the abandonment of Russian fuel. Using his powers as Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, he delayed the approval of permits required to expand the capacity of new regasification LNG terminals in Piombino and Ravenna, which G. Meloni’s government had designated as priorities for receiving gas from Algeria, Qatar, and Mozambique. In April 2026, during discussions on another sanctions package, M. Salvini demanded the exclusion of Russian liquefied natural gas imports from the restrictions, citing the risk of an “energy shock for the industry of Northern Italy,” and subsequently proposed that the cabinet consider mechanisms to return to long-term contracts with Gazprom.
Another problem for G. Meloni lies in the fact that the falling ratings of M. Salvini and his political force automatically drag down the electoral support of the Prime Minister herself, who bears responsibility for all the achievements and failures of the government coalition. If the League completely falls apart, G. Meloni will lose her parliamentary majority, forcing her either to call snap elections or seek compromises with other forces, which in Italian politics invariably leads to a paralysis of power.
An equally significant issue is that the ongoing decline in the League’s ratings does not mean a weakening of Italy’s pro-Russian flank, as other Russia-oriented political forces have begun to occupy and capture this niche. One such figure is Italian MEP and former military general Roberto Vannacci, who in early 2026 founded the far-right party Futuro Nazionale. The party promotes pro-Russian narratives and threatens to completely shift Italy’s geopolitical vector, reorienting it toward Russia and scaling back cooperation with the EU. For Giorgia Meloni, this is particularly dangerous, as R. Vannacci declared in May 2026 that he had identified her as his main political opponent and announced ambitious intentions to displace her political force in the upcoming 2027 parliamentary elections.
Today, the challenges facing Prime Minister G. Meloni are substantial; at stake is not just the country’s welfare and economic development, but Italy’s very geopolitical vector. She is aware of the threat posed by pro-Russian populists and has begun implementing a crisis plan to save her image and her political force. To escape the crisis, G. Meloni is pushing for a new electoral reform designed to prevent the “behind-the-scenes coups” traditionally used in Italy to form situational technocratic cabinets. This initiative is expected to solidify her position within the coalition and complicate matters for extra-parliamentary right-wing radicals oriented toward the Russian Federation. Should G. Meloni lose her footing, a geopolitical turn toward Euroscepticism and right-wing radicalism is practically inevitable for Italy, a reality she understands perfectly.
Italy is of particular interest to Russia because it is considered the “weakest link” among the major Western European economies. A rift within the country could paralyze consolidated decision-making within NATO and the EU, while the polarization of Italian society and the media sphere—where a pro-Russian discourse remains present—compels the Kremlin to ramp up its influence and interference in political processes. Currently, all signs indicate that the government crisis in Italy will not end anytime soon.