Matteo Salvini, wearing a Putin T-Shirt in Red Square, Moscow, is an avid supporter of the president

Matteo Salvini has been accused of taking orders from Moscow after a strike at a Russian-owned oil refinery in Italy was banned following a Kremlin request.

The local representative of Italy’s interior ministry cited a need to maintain “public order” at the Lukoil refinery in Sicily. During a court challenge by the CGIL union against the ruling a letter emerged, to Mr Salvini from Russia’s ambassador to Italy, asking him to stop the protests because they were damaging Lukoil’s reputation and had cost it “a few million euros”. Mr Salvini is both deputy prime minister and the interior minister.

“Russia always seeks to maintain the most comfortable conditions for Italian firms working in Russia,” Sergey Razov, the ambassador, noted.

Roberto Alosi, a CGIL official, said: