Silvio Berlusconi, a media mogul and former prime minister, was elected prime minister again last week after running a campaign that included open hostility to Air France-KLM's bid for Alitalia. During the election campaign, Berlusconi spoke of a group of Italian companies preparing a bid for Alitalia, but that never materialized and several of the companies he said were interested, including investment bank Mediobanca, denied it. Russia's national carrier, Aeroflot, negotiated with the Italian government for several months about buying Alitalia before pulling out in June of last year. Berlusconi was host to President Vladimir Putin of Russia at his Sardinian villa last week and the two discussed Alitalia, fueling speculation that Aeroflot might buy the Italian carrier. read more

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