as Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported on Sunday, it was actually a pro-Russian influence project directed from Moscow by Ukrainian traitor Viktor Medvedchuk, who financed its operation. The Ukrainian secret service SBU should have alerted the Polish and Czech secret services to this.
A Russian influence network targeting MEPs and probably other politically active persons was exposed by the Czech counterintelligence in cooperation with the Ukrainian secret service SBU. The pro-Russian network paid politicians to praise Russia and its President Vladimir Putin in European media, Ukrinform reports, adding that the propaganda network also published anti-Ukrainian and anti-European materials on a platform called Voice of Europe. According to the agency’s sources, the members of the network strove to get as many pro-Russian politicians as possible into the European Parliament.
As Reflex magazine reported, among others, among the politicians who appeared on the Russian paid website were former top Czech politicians with many years of international experience, including former president Václav Klaus, former prime minister Jiří Paroubek (ČSSD) or former chairman of the KDU-ČSL and ex-minister Cyril Freedom.
Czech secret service BIS on the X network she wrote, that her action revealed how Russia exerts influence on the territory of the EU states and how it tries to influence political processes. Meanwhile, the newspaper N reported that the BIS had uncovered a network organized by Russia that tried to influence the elections to the European Parliament in various European countries. According to counterintelligence, cash was handed over to anti-establishment politicians from Germany in Prague, other money went to the operation of a pro-Russian news website, the server wrote.
In addition to the former leaders of Czech politics, a member of parliament for the German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) with the Czech name Petr Bystroň or a representative of the PRO movement Jindřich Rajchl were also supposed to appear on the server paid for by the Russians. The first-named intends to defend himself against this accusation in court.
As the daily FORUM 24 already reported, Viktor Medvedchuk was kept under house arrest in Ukraine after being accused of treason and other anti-state crimes. Medvedchuk fled after the beginning of the Russian invasion, but in April 2022 he was caught by the Ukrainian secret service and then allegedly exchanged for up to two hundred Ukrainian prisoners of war from among the defenders of the Mariupol steel plant Azovstal. He now lives in Moscow.
Ukrinform writes that a number of European politicians who were Putin’s supporters have now suffered a serious blow, as many MEPs are demanding a thorough investigation of Russian influence and the punishment of colleagues who received Russian money.
According to available information, intelligence services of other countries are also involved in the activities of the pro-Russian network. According to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s earlier statement, Belgian and Czech intelligence services cooperated to break the Russian propaganda network. A few days ago, the spokesman of the Polish government intelligence coordinator, Jacek Dobrzyński, announced according to the Onet portal, that the Polish counter-intelligence ABW is investigating the activities of a pro-Russian espionage network directed against the member states and institutions of the European Union. At the same time, it cooperates with the Czech Republic. The head of the Dutch government, Mark Rutte, said on Friday that the Dutch intelligence services are also looking into the case.
We published the article in cooperation with the Forum24 newspaper.
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