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On May 29, Belgian police conducted searches in the offices of an employee of the European Parliament to figure out whether EU lawmakers took bribes to spread Russian propaganda, derailing support for Ukraine.
That’s according to Associated Press.
“The searches are part of a case of interference, passive corruption and membership of a criminal organization and relates to indications of Russian interference, whereby Members of the European Parliament were approached and paid to promote Russian propaganda via the Voice of Europe news website,” prosecutors stated, according to AP.
The news agency notes that prosecutors are rather sure that the targeted employee played “a significant role” in this.
Journalists identified the suspect as Guillaume Pradoura, working for EU lawmaker Marcel de Graaff, member of the far-right Dutch party Forum for Democracy.
De Graaff has already reacted to the media reports.
“The authorities didn’t contact neither me, nor him [Pradoura]. For me, all this comes as a complete surprise. By the way, I am not involved in any so-called Russian disinformation operation whatsoever. I have my own political beliefs and I proclaim them. That is my job as an MEP,” Marcel de Graaff wrote on X.
The investigation was announced by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo in April. He announced that his country’s intelligence service had discovered the existence of a network trying to undermine support for Ukraine.
Previously, the European Union prohibited Voice of Europe and three other Russian media from broadcasting within bloc due to them being controlled by the Kremlin.
Read also: Russia’s war in Ukraine is the biggest existential threat to EU
