Italian Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, TASS with reference to the news agency ANSA reported.
"I am going to make a political and football trip, and I will use the chance to go to Moscow for the World Cup final," the agency quoted the politician as saying. "Then I will meet with the Russian interior minister to coordinate actions against Islamic terrorism, which seems to be defeated, but is not so in fact. I will then go to meet with Putin - Italy needs dozens of people like him who care about the interests of their citizens.
The Kremlin did not report any preparations for the meeting between the Italian politician and the Russian president. Salvini had repeatedly visited the Russian capital as head of the Lega party before. One of his last visits to Russia was a private trip at Christmas in early 2017, which he wrote about on Facebook. His country’s team is not taking part in the World Cup, as it failed to qualify for the competition.