By Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini
ROME (Reuters) -Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Friday providing more aid to Ukraine would not help end the war with Russia and could “fuel further corruption”, referring to a graft scandal that has rocked the government in Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for the dismissal of two cabinet ministers this week following a probe into an alleged $100 million energy graft scheme, as the country grapples with Russian advances on the battlefield.
“It seems to me that corruption scandals are emerging, involving the Ukrainian government, so I would not want the money of Italian workers and pensioners to be used to fuel further corruption,” Salvini said in comments reported by ANSA news agency but criticised by Italy’s defence minister.
“I don’t think sending more weapons will solve the problem. It seems to me that what has been happening in recent hours, with the advance of Russian troops, tells us that it is in everyone’s interest, first and foremost Ukraine’s, to stop the war,” Salvini added.
Salvini, the head of the far-right League party, forged close ties with Russia ahead of its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. While he has so far supported Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s decision to send military aid to Kyiv, he has avoided direct criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking in Berlin, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto — a senior member of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party — said it would be “absurd” to stop helping Ukraine.
“I understand Matteo Salvini’s concerns, but I don’t judge a country based on two corrupt individuals,” Crosetto told ANSA, adding: “We are trying to help civilians who are suffering 93% of the Russian attacks.”
Italy has just signed off on a 12th package of military support for Kyiv and has pledged to help Ukraine overcome its energy crisis this winter by sending electrical generators.
Rome has not joined a NATO-led initiative to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine. A source said the issue was still under discussion in the government.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini, editing by Gareth Jones)
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