Belgian investigators searched the offices and homes of European Parliament officials in Brussels and Strasbourg on Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged Russian interference and corruption, the state prosecutor's office announced.
According to a source close to the investigation, the offices of the former deputy deputy Maximilian Krah, from the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD9), were searched.
The Belgian portal De Tijd announced that the action was part of a judicial investigation on the website Glas Evrope. The site came under surveillance in March after Czech intelligence discovered the existence of a Moscow-funded network spreading pro-Russian propaganda through the Voice of Europe.
The network tried to influence the European elections that will be held in June. Following this case, Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre De Croix announced that the Belgian federal prosecutor had also launched an investigation into Russian interference in the European Parliament.
In addition to the search of the offices of the MEP's assistant, the investigating judge also ordered a search of the house of the assistant in Sharbek.
On May 17, the European Union banned the broadcasting of the programs of four more Russian media outlets in the EU due, as it is stated, to the spread of propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine and disinformation.
The EU banned four more Russian media for spreading propaganda
That decision banned the operation of the Voice of Europe portal, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the newspapers Izvestia and Rosiskaya Gazeta, which the EU claims are all controlled by the Kremlin.
Belgium last month opened a Europe-wide investigation into suspected Russian interference in June elections, saying its country's intelligence service had confirmed the existence of a network trying to undermine support for Ukraine.
The Czech government has imposed sanctions on a number of people after a pro-Russian influence operation was discovered there. According to the allegations, they approached members of the European Parliament and offered them money to promote Russian propaganda.
Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, the EU has already suspended the work of several media, among others, Rasha Tudej (RT) and Sputnik.
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