The centre-left opposition Democratic Party (Pd) on Thursday signed the motion of no-confidence in Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini tabled by centrist opposition party Action of Carlo Calenda in relation to his right-wing League party's ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin's party United Russia.
The motion already has the support of the centre-left opposition Five Star Movement (M5S) led by former prime minister Giuseppe Conte.
Salvini has been under fire in recent days for refusing to blame Putin for the death in a Siberian prison Friday of prominent dissident and opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as for the League's reported failure to formally sever ties to UnitedRussia.
Calenda said the League is "still pro-Putin, albeit less openly than in the past, out of political calculation" and that his party would file a no confidence motion in the deputy prime minister unless he formally announced that his party's ties to UnitedRussia have been ended.
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