ROME-- The USA told Renzi’s government to “beware of the relationship between Russia and Movimento 5 Stelle (Italian anti-establishment party)”. The warning comes in an attempt to make the Italian governement aware of Putin’s plan to support counter-establishment forces to destabilise countries as a whole.

 “The arrests in Moscow? What about Guantanamo? Don’t ask me to pass judgement on democracy in other countries” says Manilo Stefano, the shadow Foreign Minister of M5S, dismissing the question that so many ask M5S- what do you have to say about the mass arrests ordered by Vladimir Putin? One would expect that MS5, as a party, would sympathise with the young rebels in Moscow, an anticorruption platform created online, with a blogger, Aleksej Navalnyj, as leader. But why is the party now keeping quiet?

 As he is shadow Foreign Minister, MS5 have assigned Di Stefano the role of drafting a foreign strategy, which will be voted on on Beppe Grillo’s blog. The party’s chief projects are those of redefining Italy’s role in Europe and the world, with bilateral agreements forming part of a larger multilateral strategy; and the idea of a Mediterranean Alliance instead of, or in conjunction with, the EU.

 On the topic of Putin, Di Stefano asks “why don’t we also talk about Saudi Arabia, who Italy also has arms deals with… while the minister Alfano contests the arrests in Moscow, we have made million euro deals with the Saudis.” Matteo Salvini, leader of the Lega Nord and friend of Putin, has commended Putin for his decision to arrest the demonstrators, as their protests were not authorised. MS5 comments that “arresting everyone like this is clearly undemocratic but why not talk about Guantanamo? It’s still running even though Barack Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize. This is hypocrisy: we must condemn all countries that compromise rights, we can’t pick and choose.”

 Last June Di Stefano was the only Italian politician present at the meeting of Russia United, Putin’s party, an invite “accepted with great enthusiasm”. During the visit he reaffirmed one of the fundamental aims of M5S, the removal of sanctions on Russia saying “Putin is a strategic partner in the fight against terrorism, to ignore that is short-sighted.”

 While M5S do not seem to be openly supporting Putin’s actions, they are certainly not condemning them, with Di Stefano declaring that ‘it’s right to wonder what exists beyond the Eurozone.”