Matteo Salvini, the leader of League, has been accused of trading business influence in Italy for Russian funding

The leader of Italy’s anti-immigrant League party has been accused of cultivating “dangerous connections” to the Kremlin and to discredited political figures from southern Italy.

The allegation was published by L’Espresso news magazine, which accused Matteo Salvini of using recycled political opportunists to conquer the south and of using “men linked to Putin to refill his coffers”.

Mr Salvini has dropped the word Northern from his party’s name and is seeking to bolster national ambitions with votes from the south, a region once regarded by the Northern League’s pro-independence supporters as the home of criminals and parasites.

The party was founded in 1989 by Umberto Bossi to free the hard-working north from the shackles of corrupt politicians in Rome, so Mr Salvini’s choice of southern