WikiLeaks cables: Berlusconi 'profited from secret deals' with Putin
Russian PM allegedly promised Italian leader a cut of energy contracts, leaked US dispatches say
US diplomats have reported startling suspicions that Silvio Berlusconi could be "profiting personally and handsomely" from secret deals with the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, according to cables released by WikiLeaks.
Exasperated by Berlusconi's pro-Russian behaviour, American embassy staff detail allegations circulating in Rome that the Italian leader has been promised a cut of huge energy contracts.The two men are known to be personally close, but this is the first time allegations of a financial link have surfaced.
Hillary Clinton's state department in Washington sent a special request to the Rome embassy this year, asking for extra intelligence-gathering on the allegations about the men: "What personal investments, if any, do they have that might drive their foreign or economic policies?".
References to Berlusconi's "financially enriching relationship" originated both from members of his own political party and from the hostile government of Georgia, according to the leaked cables.
The US ambassador in Rome, Ronald Spogli, first reported the claims in a series of dispatches in 2008-09. He said the prime minister had taken "single-handed" control of Italy's dealings with Moscow, with the over-riding aim of pleasing the Russian leader.
Berlusconi acted as a "mouthpiece" for Putin, he reported, supporting him in public when Russia was being criticised.
Personal ties between the two were close, "with Putin's family spending long visits at the Berlusconi family mansion in Sardinia at Berlusconi's expense". Berlusconi in turn has the rare privilege of being invited to Putin's dacha in the Black Sea resort of Sochi for what the embassy speculated on one occasion would be a "blow-out party". A contact in Berlusconi's office told the embassy of "exchanges of lavish gifts".
In January 2009, according to the leaked cables, Spogli wrote it was "hard to determine" the basis of the Berlusconi-Putin friendship. "Berlusconi admires Putin's macho, decisive and authoritarian governing style, which the Italian PM believes matches his own".However, "contacts in both the opposition centre-left Partito Democratico and Berlusconi's own PdL party … have hinted at a more nefarious connection. They believe that Berlusconi and his cronies are profiting personally and handsomely from many of the energy deals between Italy and Russia."
Spogli continued: "The Georgian ambassador in Rome has told us that the government of Georgia believes Putin has promised Berlusconi a percentage of profits from any pipelines developed by Gazprom in co-ordination with ENI."
The Italian energy conglomerate is partially owned by the Italian government. It works in close collaboration with state-controlled Gazprom, the energy giant which sells Russian gas and oil abroad.
Details of the allegations began to surface last night and were covered extensively by the Italian media this morning. Berlusconi denied the claims in the cables. Currently on a visit to Kazakhstan, he told the Ansa news agency: "The [United States] is quite clear that I have absolutely no interest in any other country; that there are absolutely no personal interests, and that I only look after the interests of the Italians and my country."
But his denial did not satisfy opposition representatives who called for him to make a statement to parliament. Dario Franceschini, chief whip in the lower house of Italy's biggest opposition group, the Democratic party, defied Bersluconi to deny the allegations. "We hope that those claims are not true. In any event, the prime minister should come to parliament to deny them next week," he said.Though the episode is not referred to in the cables, Berlusconi has publicly counselled Italians to buy ENI shares. On 10 October 2008, when the US credit crunch was at its height, Italy's prime minister surprised financial observers.
According to Ansa, he told a press conference in Naples: "It's the moment to buy ENI and [another Italian energy giant] Enel, both of which are undervalued." In particular, he said, ENI "will this year make extraordinary profits".
The private views of Georgian government sources were accurately relayed by the US embassy, according to Guardian inquiries. But neither Georgia nor the US record any concrete proof of their suspicion.
Spogli wrote: "Whenever we raise the issue of Russia and the P with our contacts in PdL, Berlusconi's own party, they have usually pointed us to Valentino Valentini, a member of parliament and somewhat shadowy figure who operates as Berlusconi's key man on Russia, albeit with no staff or even a secretary. Valentini, a Russian-speaker who travels to Russia several times a month, frequently appears at Berlusconi's side when he meets other world leaders. What he does in Moscow during his frequent visits is unclear but he is widely rumoured to be looking after Berlusconi's business interests in Russia."
Elsewhere the US describes Valentini as Berlusconi's "unofficial intermediary/bagman".
In November 2008, the US ambassador sent a long cable to Condoleezza Rice, the then secretary of state, to prepare her for a meeting with the Italian prime minister."Berlusconi's close personal (and, some suspect, financial) relationship with Putin has led him to champion unquestioningly every initiative the Kremlin has rolled out. Italy's Russia policy is his personal game, one which he conducts on a tactical basis to gain the trust and favour of his Russian interlocutors. He consistently rejects the strategic advice of his demoralised, resource-starved and increasingly irrelevant foreign ministry in favour of his business cronies, many of whom are deeply dug into Russia's European energy strategy."
Italy's foreign ministry contained "only one full-time diplomat assigned to cover Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union". In the office of the diplomatic adviser to the prime minister, the official responsible for Russia was "a mid-level diplomat who is in the process of being transferred". He added: "No replacement is likely to be named."An Italian contact later told the Americans that they "only learn of conversations between [prime minister] Berlusconi and [prime minister] Putin after the fact, and with little detail or background", leaving diplomats "in the dark".
Spogli reported in another cable that Berlusconi conducted "his own brand of foreign policy … as a way of gaining favour with his Russian interlocutors, with whom many (including his own party officials) suspect he has a personally and financially enriching relationship".
The ambassador similarly briefed Dick Cheney, the then US vice-president, before his visit to Rome, that Putin and Berlusconi shared "mutual commercial interests".In June last year, President Obama was briefed ahead of Berlusconi's arrival in Washington. Elizabeth Dibble, deputy chief of mission, reported: "Dependence on Russian energy, lucrative and frequently non-transparent business dealings between Italy and Russia, and a close personal relationship between Berlusconi and Putin have distorted [Berlusconi's] view to the point that he believes much of the friction between the west and Russia has been caused by the US and Nato."
US diplomats repeatedly make clear their anger at "a string of inflammatory" declarations by Berlusconi in favour of Putin and urging a softer line with Russia. Berlusconi, they say, has "tried to derail US-led efforts to contain Moscow's worst instincts". Although a "valuable ally", in other respects, Berlusconi's continual support for Moscow is seen as "troubling".In late 2008, Spogli wrote that Berlusconi's "overwhelming desire is to remain in Putin's good graces and he has frequently voiced opinions and declarations that have been passed to him directly by Putin".
As an example, he added, after the war between Russia and Georgia that year, "Berlusconi began (and continues) to insist that Georgia was the aggressor".
Berlusconi has long been Putin's most ardent friend in Europe, and sees himself as the man best able to explain Russia's leader to an often perplexed west. Such is their friendship that transcripts of an audio tape recorded in Berlusconi's Rome villa capture the Italian leader speaking lucidly about "Putin's bed".
The bed was the scene of an alleged intimate encounter in November 2008 between Berlusconi and a high-class call girl, Patrizia D'Addario.
Berlusconi: "I'm going to take a shower too. And if you finish before me, wait for me on the big bed."
D'Addario: "Which bed? Putin's?"
Berlusconi: "Putin's."
D'Addario: "Oh, how cute. The one with the curtains."
Soon after his release from hospital in December 2009, Berlusconi appeared wearing a sweatshirt with the Russian Federation double-headed eagle logo, an apparent gift from Putin.
But the Berlusconi-Putin friendship has had serious consequences. In March this year, Walter Litvinenko – the father of the murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko – complained that Berlusconi had blocked his bid to receive asylum in Italy.
Litvinenko arrived in Italy with his wife and other relatives in April 2008. Despite the family's well-founded fears that they would face persecution or worse at home, the Italian authorities failed to process their claim. The Litvinenkos also complained of harassment by the Italian police.
"We have fallen victim to a political game," Litvinenko told the Guardian in March. "Berlusconi is no better than Putin. All European governments have been flirting with Putin. Berlusconi's dependence on him, and on Russian gas, means that we don't get asylum."
