GETTY Russia could target voters in the upcoming Italian election

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A damning report to the United States Senate claimed the Kremlin will strike the European country with fake news and disinformation campaigns to stir up anti-EU sentiment before the country heads to the polls. Italy has seen a resurgence of anti-establishment, populist parties in recent years, and some support pro-Kremlin foreign policies. Among them is the Five Star Movement (M5S) which seeks to end sanctions on Russia, opposes Italian participation in NATO exercises and has called for a referendum on Italy’s inclusion in the Eurozone. Italy’s general election is set to take place on March 4, with recent polls suggesting that Italy’s Northern League, an anti-EU and anti-immigration party, has a shot at governing in a coalition with the centre-right Forza Italia party.

GETTY Italy election: Matteo Salvini is the leader of far-right party the Northern League

I think some of our political parties are vulnerable to infiltration Italian national security official

The report, written by the US minority Senate foreign relations committee, warned Italy could be a target of electoral meddling by the Kremlin, “which will likely seek to promote parties that are against renewing EU sanctions for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine”. And the Kremlin, according to the report, sought to become an influence in the decision-making of the Council of Europe when the United Russia party and the Northern League agreed to develop ties and promote business links between the counties. While there is no known evidence of M5S receiving funding from Kremlin-linked sources, one Italian national security official told the Business Insider in 2017: “I think some of our political parties are vulnerable to infiltration. “They don’t have the experience, the antibodies, to fend off such formidable intelligence services.”

GETTY The upcoming Italian election has seen the return of firebrand Silvio Berlusconi

The president of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, Laura Boldrini, has spearheaded a project with Italy’s Ministry of Education to train students at 8,000 high schools across the country on how to verify news stories and recognise fake news and conspiracy theories that they see on social media platforms. During a Senate confirmation hearing, Lewis Eisenberg, the US ambassador to Italy, told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he will “work to strengthen our coordination with Italian partners, across relevant agencies, to detect and counter these activities that seek to undermine democratic institutions and principles”. He added he will “make US-Italian cooperation on this issue a priority, particularly in advance of Italian national elections that are likely to take place in 2018”.

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