This Wednesday, the Belgian judicial police searched the office of an assistant to a MEP at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels in the investigation of an alleged case of Russian interference, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported in a statement.
An investigating judge at a Brussels court also ordered the search of that employee’s home in the Schaerbeek neighborhood and his office in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg (France). which was carried out in collaboration with Eurojust and the French judicial authorities, the same statement states.
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It is suspected that workers at the European Parliament were paid “to promote Russian propaganda through the Voice of Europe information website.”
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that “There are indications that the European Parliament employee played an important role in this matter.”
For their part, press sources from the European Parliament indicated that they could not comment on ongoing investigations.
‘Belgian intelligence has confirmed the existence of a pro-Russian interference network’
Last April, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported an investigation into Russian interference in European politicians, including payments to members of the European Parliament, to disseminate its propaganda.
The investigation concerns the pro-Kremlin propaganda network that has been discovered trying to influence the European Parliament and the upcoming European elections on June 6-9, whose activities can be considered crimes in Belgium.
De Croo then explained that his intelligence services “are clear” that Moscow’s objective was to help more pro-Russian candidates get elected in the elections to the European Parliament next June to reinforce the pro-Russian narrative in the institution.
EFE
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