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A Russian political influence campaign is rocking Europe as senior officials warned that Moscow paid members of the European Parliament to meddle in the upcoming European Parliament elections, Politico’s European newsroom reports.
“This confirms what we suspected: the Kremlin uses dubious media outlets that pretend to be media outlets and use money to buy covert influence,” European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova told Brussels media, calling the revelations “very worrying “.
The scandal erupted when the Czech government on Wednesday (27 March) imposed sanctions on a news site called Voice of Europe, which Prague says is part of a pro-Russian influence operation. Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre De Croix said a day later that Russia had contacted members of the EU’s European Parliament (EP) and “paid them to promote Russian propaganda”.
The new Russian influence campaign comes less than three months before European Parliament elections on June 6-9. It reflects concerns about corruption and foreign interference that were brought to the fore by the Kattargat corruption scandal that rocked the European Parliament less than two years ago.
“We cannot afford to be one step behind Putin and his propaganda army on the chessboard … We must constantly bear in mind that he will use disinformation and foreign intervention as a weapon to divide Europe,” Jourova said.
The influence scandal revolves around the Voice of Europe website. The Czech Foreign Ministry has imposed sanctions on Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Voice of Europe itself and an individual named Artyom Pavlovich Marchevsky, who is believed to be involved in the operation.
Medvedchuk conducted a “Russian influence operation” from Russia into the Czech Republic using Voice of Europe, authorities said in a statement.
“This decision is in the interest of the security of the Czech Republic, as well as contributing to the protection of the democratic nature of the upcoming European Parliament elections,” the Czech Foreign Ministry said.
Polish security services said on Thursday they had raided Warsaw and Tychy in western Poland as part of the cross-border investigation, reported.
Local media quoted a statement from the security services, according to which the authorities seized 48,500 euros (96,205 leva) and 36,000 dollars (66,053 leva). The website of Poland’s Internal Security Agency has been down since Thursday (March 28) evening, Politico reports.
The Voice of Europe YouTube channel shows a parade of EU MPs, many belonging to far-right, Eurosceptic parties, lining up to denounce the “green deal”, predict the Union’s imminent collapse or attack Ukraine. Those appearing on the web are not believed to have accepted cash.
The website has roots in the Netherlands, reports the Dutch newspaper NRC. An entrepreneur linked to the site at the time “worked” with far-right leader Thierry Bode in 2016 “to provoke the referendum on Ukraine,” the paper said, referring to the non-binding vote in which Dutch voters opposed the Ukraine-EU political association agreement .
The Voice of Europe website was down on Thursday and the X account has not been posted since Wednesday.
“Calling this operation of Russian interference the Voice of Europe is just a bitter joke, but it clearly shows the level of contempt Putin has for our democracies,” Yourova commented.
Allegations that MEPs were paid to speak for the Kremlin have raised questions about who may have taken the money.
A spokesperson for European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola said in a statement: “The President is aware of the allegations made and is investigating the specific allegations.”
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