The Czech government has issued sanctions against the website Voice of Europe, which it accuses of running a Moscow-funded influence campaign to sway public opinion in Russia’s favor ahead of the upcoming EU elections.
According to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, it was discovered through counterintelligence by Belgian and Czech intelligence services.
Right-wing populists are singled out
Czech media also report, citing security sources, that EU parliamentarians from six countries – Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary – were paid for the same purpose. The money must have gone through Voice of Europe.
– Among other things, it has emerged that Russia has contacted and paid EU parliamentarians to spread Russian propaganda here, said De Croo, without naming anyone, during a debate in the Belgian parliament on Thursday, according to Politico.
In some of the countries concerned, there is media information about which members are singled out. Among other things, Der Spiegel mentions a German parliamentarian from the far-right AFD.
“Completely unacceptable”
Several of the party groups in the European Parliament demand an investigation. Heléne Fritzon, a Social Democratic parliamentarian, says her party group S&D submitted a request to the Speaker to suspend the accused politicians pending investigation.
– It is completely unacceptable and here you have to act quickly and get to the bottom of who or which parties and politicians are affected, she says.
European Commission Vice President Vera Jourová tells Politico that this confirms what “we suspected.”
– The Kremlin uses shady pretend media to buy itself secret influence, she says.
The data comes a year after the “Qatargate” bribery scandal, where, among other things, Qatar was accused of trying to buy influence from several people with close connections to the EU Parliament.