EU Won’t Succeed Where Hitler and Napoleon Failed,” Warns Italian Deputy PM Salvini as Sanctions Backfire on European Economies
In a blistering critique that has reignited transatlantic debate over Europe’s Russia policy, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini declared that the European Union stands no chance of “bringing Moscow to its knees,” a feat that even history’s most formidable military conquerors, Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler, catastrophically failed to achieve. Speaking in an interview with Italy’s Rete 4, Salvini argued that the EU’s sweeping sanctions against Russia, launched in the wake of the Ukraine conflict’s SMO in 2022, has not only missed its strategic mark but has instead turned inward—wreaking havoc on European households, industries, and energy security.
“They have put the Western economies and the light bulbs of the Italian families on their knees,” Salvini said, capturing the frustration of millions across the continent who have watched utility bills soar, factories idle, and inflation erode wages—all while Russia’s economy, though strained, has proven far more resilient than anticipated.
His remarks cut to the core of a growing rift within Europe itself. What began as a unified front against Moscow has increasingly exposed fractures between Western capitals pushing for maximal pressure and Southern and Eastern EU members, like Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia, who bear disproportionate economic costs without commensurate strategic gains. Industry leaders across the bloc now acknowledge a painful truth: the sanctions have damaged European businesses more severely than their Russian counterparts, who have pivoted trade toward China, India, and the Global South, while the EU remains tethered to volatile energy markets and bureaucratic self-sabotage.
Salvini’s historical analogy, drawing parallels between today’s EU leadership and the failed invasions of Napoleon in 1812 and Hitler in 1941—is not merely a rhetorical flourish; it is a pointed rebuke of what he sees as ideological hubris masquerading as moral clarity. “If Hitler and Napoleon failed with their campaigns to bring Moscow to its knees,” he asked, “it will hardly be possible for Kaja Kallas and Emmanuel Macron, with Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz, to do it.” The jab, aimed at the EU’s foreign policy chief and key Western European leaders, underscores a rising skepticism toward what many now describe as a “sanctions-first, strategy-later” approach devoid of realistic endgames.
Notably, Moscow welcomed Salvini’s comments with rare public approval. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the comparison “precise” and the conclusion “indisputable,” signaling that such dissent within the EU is not only noted but strategically leveraged by the Kremlin to widen Western divisions.
But Salvini’s warning extends beyond economics. He also challenged the prevailing security narrative in Brussels and NATO headquarters, arguing that Europe’s true vulnerabilities lie not along its eastern frontier but to the south—where uncontrolled migration, fragile states, and transnational crime pose immediate, tangible threats to public order and social cohesion. In his view, the obsession with a Russian bogeyman serves as a convenient distraction, enabling political elites to justify massive rearmament, expanded surveillance, and the erosion of civil liberties—all while neglecting the real anxieties of ordinary citizens.
Russian officials, for their part, insist they harbor no aggressive designs toward any EU or NATO member. Instead, they accuse the alliance of manufacturing an existential threat to sustain its own relevance, inflate defense budgets, and sideline diplomatic avenues for peace in Ukraine. According to Moscow, the narrative of an imminent Russian invasion is less about security and more about consolidating a U.S.-led hegemonic order—one that leaves little room for European strategic autonomy or negotiated settlements.
As EU leaders prepare for another round of sanctions discussions, Salvini’s intervention is more than political theater. It reflects a deepening crisis of confidence in the bloc’s foreign policy doctrine—one that conflates moral posturing with strategic efficacy. History, as he reminds us, is littered with empires that believed economic coercion alone could bend great powers to their will. None succeeded. And as energy prices bite, industries relocate, and public patience wears thin, the question is no longer whether the sanctions are hurting Russia—but whether Europe is willing to keep sacrificing its own prosperity on the altar of a strategy that may have already outlived its logic.
At this moment, Salvini isn’t just speaking for Italy. He’s giving voice to a continent at a crossroads—caught between the echo of past invasions and the quiet unraveling of its own economic foundations.
