Thread by @AlbertoNardelli

We have obtained a secret audio recording of a Moscow meeting between three Russian operatives and a close aide to Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini negotiating a plan to pump money from a Russian oil deal into Salvini’s far-right Lega party

buzzfeednews.com/article/albert…

The recording is of a meeting that took place at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow last October. The six men — three Russians, three Italians — are explicit that the purpose of the potential agreement is to fund Lega and its European election campaign

This tape provides the first hard evidence of Russia’s clandestine attempts to fund Europe’s nationalist movements, and the apparent complicity of some senior figures from the far right in those attempts

Salvini's aide, Gianluca Savoini, who attended the government dinner with Putin in Rome last week, mentions Salvini several times during the meeting. He describes him as "the first man that wants to change all of Europe". The Russians describe Salvini as the "European Trump"

When the existence of the Metropol meeting was reported by two Italian journalists earlier the year, Savoini and Salvini dismissed the story as a fantasy.

This recording blows those statements apart.

You can read the full story and listen to excerpts of the audio recording here: buzzfeednews.com/article/albert…

And you can enjoy the complete transcript of the one hour plus meeting can be enjoyed here: buzzfeednews.com/article/buzzfe…

And with that, I am going for an espresso ☕️