Poland, Czech Republic warn of Russian interference ahead of European elections – Technologist

Czech and Polish intelligence services uncovered the activities of a Russian network aimed at influencing the outcome of the European elections in June. The network operated the popular Voice of Europe news website, registered in Prague and closed down by Czech authorities, which relayed pro-Russian information and criticized Western aid to Ukraine.

On March 27, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced that the site, along with Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, and his associate Artem Marchevsky, had been placed on the government’s sanctions list. Marchevsky lived in the Czech Republic since 2022.

“Money from Moscow has been used to pay some political actors who spread Russian propaganda,” said BIS, the Czech intelligence service, before adding that those with “strong pro-Russian views,” including European politicians, were given a platform.

Searches

The Polish internal security agency (ABW) announced on March 28 that they had carried out searches the previous day, indicating that they were working in collaboration with several European intelligence services. Almost €48,500 and $36,000 were seized in two separate raids. More operations are planned.

A Polish citizen suspected of spying for the Russian secret services was charged, accused of bribing Polish and European parliamentarians to benefit Russia’s intelligence services to “build Russian zones of influence in Europe.” According to Polish news website “o2”, one of the people targeted by the ABW could be Jacek Jakubczyk, owner of the Voice of Europe website since March 2023.

The Czech daily Denik N claims that French, Dutch, Belgian, German, Polish and Hungarian politicians have received Russian money in exchange for statements favorable to Moscow. The sums involved amount to hundreds of thousands of euros for 2023 alone. Viktor Medvedchuk financed and managed the Voice of Europe website, but the pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician was also in charge of content and communicated with European politicians, according to a source from the newspaper.

Members of Germany’s far-right AfD party, including the two main candidates in the European elections, gave interviews to Voice of Europe. Authorities in the Netherlands did not put forward names of possible recipients of Russian money. The outgoing government stated that this was the responsibility of the country’s intelligence services. However, the issue was debated in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, March 27. At the center of the debate was Thierry Baudet’s Forum for Democracy party, which has been under investigation by the intelligence services since 2020 for its alleged links with Moscow.

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