Czech authorities claim that they were able to uncover a scheme to spread Russian propaganda in Europe and bribe European politicians. Simultaneously with the statements of the Czech authorities, details of the scheme were published on March 27 by Der Spiegel and the Czech newspaper Denik N. The German authorities also expressed their concern about the revelations from Prague.
“Russian-funded network of influence”
At the center of a new scandal involving the bribery of European politicians is the seemingly unremarkable news website Voice of Europe – voiceofeurope.com. Today the page no longer works, but its visitor until today might not have noticed anything strange, except perhaps reprints from other media about politics, economics, and various non-political topics. But when journalists from the weekly Der Spiegel took a closer look, they noticed that the news on the site often looked like it was written by artificial intelligence, the source code of the page was created using Cyrillic, and the search on the page was in Russian. What might also have attracted attention was the fact that on the site one could find many interviews with European politicians, primarily from right-wing populist parties.
The Czech Security and Information Service (BIS), according to its own data, managed to find out that this is not just about an Internet site, but about the activities of an influence network financed from Russia in the Czech Republic. According to Der Spiegel, several other European intelligence services provided assistance to the Czechs. At the center of this network, as the Czech authorities are sure, was the former leader of the pro-Russian Ukrainian party “Opposition Platform-For Life” and Vladimir Putin’s godfather, Viktor Medvedchuk. Against Medvedchuk, who was accused of treason in Ukraine, but was later allowed to go to Russia during the exchange of prisoners of war, the Czech authorities imposed personal sanctions on March 27.
“We were able to detect the activity of a Russian-funded influence network in the Czech Republic,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in Prague on March 27. Fiala said the purpose of this network is attempts to influence the policies of European countries to please the Kremlin. The Czech authorities consider Ukrainian producer Artem Marchevsky, former general producer of the 112 Ukraine news channel, to be Medvedchuk’s assistant and the actual manager of the site. Sanctions were also imposed against him.
What did the Voice of Europe network do?
The website voiceofeurope.com regularly published calls from European politicians to stop aid to Ukraine. Also, in addition to publications, various seminars and conferences were held under the auspices of the site, the participants of which disseminated pro-Russian positions, Jan Kovar, director of the Prague Institute of International Relations, noted in a conversation with DW. Some of those who published on the site or gave interviews, according to the Czech newspaper Denik N, were paid money for this, in some cases commensurate with the costs of campaigning for the elections to the European Parliament, which will be held in June. According to Der Spiegel, the money was transferred in cash during personal meetings in Prague, or using cryptocurrency. The Czech newspaper Denik N reports that the “pool” of recipients included politicians from six countries – Germany, Belgium, France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland. The Czech publication cites sources in the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Czech journalists do not name the specific names of the recipients of the money, but note that, in particular, the site published interviews with politicians of the right-wing populist German party Alternative for Germany (AfD) – Member of the European Parliament Maximilian Krah, as well as Member of the Bundestag Petr Bystron ). Kra, at least in the past, maintained contact with Medvedchuk – he was invited to his birthday and visited him in Kyiv after being accused of treason and being placed under house arrest.
Confiscated money, “illegal influence” on the European Parliament
The allegations regarding the bribery of European politicians are currently not supported by evidence of the transfer of money. It is also not clear in which cases politicians were rewarded and in which they were not. But the fact that undeclared financial assets were involved in this case is indirectly confirmed by the facts of searches in Poland, where one of the co-owners of the site was located. According to the dpa news agency, on March 28, during a search in Warsaw and the city of Tychy, employees of the Polish intelligence service ABW confiscated 48,500 euros and 36,000 dollars. The secret service officers connected the searches both directly with the Voice of Europe case and with accusations against a Polish citizen of espionage for Russia.
Meanwhile, Maximilian Kra, when asked by Der Spiegel, rejected suspicions of bribery, saying that “of course, he did not receive money either for himself or for the party,” and allegedly paid for the hotel in Prague on his own. Bystron did not respond to a request from Der Spiegel journalists. Kra and Bystron are ranked first and second on the AfD list for the European Parliament elections.
“Russia paid to promote Russian propaganda”
The exposure of the Moscow-funded Voice of Europe website indicates Russia’s “illegal influence” on the European Parliament, the German government said in response to the Prague decision and to press publications. “The network used politicians from several European countries and placed significant funds at their disposal,” a spokesman for the German Interior Ministry said in a statement.
This information was confirmed on Thursday, March 28, by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Cros. “For example, it turned out that Russia approached members of the European Parliament, but also paid (them – Ed.) to promote Russian propaganda here,” he said during a debate in the Belgian parliament. He did not name the names of the deputies, but noted that this week “close cooperation has been established” between the Belgian and Czech intelligence services to destroy the Russian propaganda network, Politico quotes.
Meanwhile, as the press service of the European Parliament told DW, it – together with other EU institutions – is studying the information provided by the Czech authorities. The European Parliament also recalled the ban on sanctioned media from using parliamentary audio and video platforms and being on its territory. Earlier, on February 8, the European Parliament already adopted a resolution in connection with Russian influence in the EU.
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2024-03-28 21:33:52