(ANSA) - Genoa, July 16 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that he will report to parliament about suspicions a person close to his League party discussed taking funding via oil kickbacks from Russia.
    "I certainly will go to parliament," Salvini said in Genoa when asked about calls for him to report to the parliament over the case.
    "That is my job. I go bi-weekly and for the question-time session, during which I respond about all human knowledge, always". Salvini said his party has not taken a rouble off the Russians and described the case as "ridiculous".
    Milan prosecutors opened a probe after reports that Lombardy-Russia Association President Paolo Savoini met with two other Italians and three Russians in a Moscow hotel to discuss siphoning off an alleged 65 million euros from oil profits.
    The minister has denied inviting Savoini to take part in two bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin recently.
    On Tuesday Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco said there was "absolutely" no need to question Salvini about the case, adding that it was set to be a "long, complex, difficult" probe.
    A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin told ANSA Tuesday Russia had never funded any Italian party or politician, and the Kremlin was ready to assist the probe. Salvini also said Tuesday that a group of pro-Ukraine neo-Nazis caught with an arsenal of weapons including a French-made Matra air-to-air missile in northern Italy Monday wanted to assassinate him. The weapons and neo-Nazi regalia were found in Turin.
    Announcing the news, Salvini said in Genoa "I flagged it up myself. "It was one of the many death threats I get every day. "The secret services spoke of a Ukrainian group that was planning an attempt on my life. "I'm happy it served to uncover the arsenal of some madmen".
    Salvini is known for his strong pro-Russian positions.
    Monday's operation was against former Italian fighters in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region, where Russia's military is alleged to have been operating.
    A former KGB agent flagged the existence of an assassination attempt plot on Salvini by Ukrainian ultranationalists but no evidence was found for the alleged plan, Italian police and prosecutors said.
    Surveillance of five Italians, former militiamen considered close to the Azov Battalion, led to the discovery of an attempt to sell the Matra missile, they said.
    Salvini has also sent a circular letter to Italy's prefects calling on them to prepare "a report on the presence of Roma, Sinti and Camminanti settlements" within their territories within two weeks, sources said Tuesday. The interior ministry said that the aim is to have a clear outline of how many illegal camps there are and where they are situated in order to "prepare a plan of clearances".