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RUSSIA

Twitter trolls’ ‘coup’ against Italy’s president to be probed

Rome's public prosecutor's anti-terrorism section is to probe hundreds of Twitter accounts demanding the resignation of President Sergio Mattarella in the midst of an Italian government crisis in May.

Twitter trolls' 'coup' against Italy's president to be probed
Photos: AFP

The Twitter accounts popped up as Italy was mired in political chaos on the evening of May 27 after a days-long standoff over the composition of Italy's government cabinet.

President Mattarella vetoed the nomination of fierce eurosceptic Paolo Savona as economy minister, enraging the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and far-right League and prompting their prime minister-elect to step aside.

That night, nearly 400 Twitter accounts calling for the president to resign were created in a few minutes before being deleted within hours, according to a police inquiry, the reports said, adding that the probe, which will open next week, would be led by the anti-terrorist section of the Rome public prosecutors' office.

Ministers in the new government, however, said they were unconcerned by the allegations.

“I was not aware of it and it does not worry me in the least,” Interior Minister and League head Matteo Salvini said in an interview published Saturday in the daily Il Foglio.

“It's been months since I read that the Russians are influencing Brexit, the US, French and Italian elections. For me it is total nonsense,” added the minister, an admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

RUSSIA

Russia announces no New Year’s greetings for France, US, Germany

US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not be receiving New Year's greetings from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Russia announces no New Year's greetings for France, US, Germany

As the world gears up to ring in the New Year this weekend, Putin sent congratulatory messages to the leaders of Kremlin-friendly countries including Turkey, Syria, Venezuela and China.

But Putin will not wish a happy New Year to the leaders of the United States, France and Germany, countries that have piled unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

“We currently have no contact with them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And the president will not congratulate them given the unfriendly actions that they are taking on a continuous basis,” he added.

Putin shocked the world by sending troops to pro-Western Ukraine on February 24.

While Kyiv’s Western allies refused to send troops to Ukraine, they have been supplying the ex-Soviet country with weapons in a show of support that has seen Moscow suffer humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

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