Al Bano invites Salvini to the World Judo Championship (with Urban and Putin) – Corriere.it

Judo diplomacy at work. Between Matteo Salvini, Viktor Urban and Vladimir Putin, a completely unexpected mediator name appears: Al Bano. On Sunday, the World Judo Championship opens in Budapest, a martial art loved by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has practiced it for decades. The leader of Moscow will be on the Danube to support the Russian team and applaud him. With him will be the host, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. To sing the IJF anthem, we will have a piano, but this is not at all a surprise. The popular singer will participate in the ceremony in two capacities: in addition to the interpreter, for two years, of the official anthem, and the anthem of the Judo Ambassador, a sport he is also very passionate about.

But there may also be a third. Do you want to see that a sporting event could be an occasion for a long-awaited head-to-head between the Russian president and the leader of the Northern League? When Salvini went to Moscow in 2017, he actually met with Foreign Minister Lavrov but not the president. Salvini’s employees are not imbalanced and the meeting is defined simply as “possible”. In fact, the Sherpa could be Al Bano. Who also knows Salvini well because, when the leader of the Northern League was a minister, he went to Viminale to represent him on some issues related to the wine, which he is his product.

On that occasion, they threw themselves together in a mix One of the songs of the Boolian artist whose videos continue to circulate. Al-Banu confirmed in a phone call that he had “received instructions from the President of the Austrian Federation, Marius Weser, to invite Salvini to the appointment.” But more cannot be taken from him: “I did what I had to do. If Salvini will go, we must ask him. ” Indeed, he seems to understand that Salvini’s employees are trying to assess whether there really is a possibility of a meeting with the Russian president. Until yesterday evening, there was no certainty.