EU lawmakers expressed worries Thursday about Russian “interference” in European democracy, including by using “influence agents” among them and encouraging right wing parties to undermine support for Ukraine.
In a vote carried 433 to 56, the European Parliament adopted a nonbinding text condemning “continuous efforts by Russia to undermine European democracy through various forms of interference and disinformation”.
All members present from France’s extreme-right National Rally party, whose public face is Marine Le Pen, voted against the text.
With the vote, the parliament expressed “deep concern” about reports that a Latvian member of the legislature, Tatjana Zdanoka, had been spying for Moscow for two decades.
The reports — carried out by Latvian independent investigative outlet The Insider, the Swedish newspaper Expressen and an Estonian website — last week revealed what were said to be leaked emails between Zdanoka and her alleged Russian handlers.
The parliament has already announced a probe into the allegations, and the text called for it to be swiftly carried out with appropriate sanctions.
The Kremlin has likened the accusations against Zdanoka to Cold War-era politically motivated campaigns in America under the guise of rooting out anti-Communist sympathisers.
The parliament text adopted pointed to cases of other EU lawmakers “knowingly serving Russia’s interests including through fake electoral observation missions to Russian occupied territories”.
It slammed what it said was a Russian tactic of clandestinely funding and supporting parties in the European Union, “including the supplying of narratives to far-right political parties and actors in Germany and France with the aim of subverting public support for Ukraine, but also in Slovakia”.
It said the Kremlin had allowed Le Pen to obtain a loan of 9.4 million euros ($10 million) from a Russian bank in 2013 and noted that Le Pen and members of her party had expressed pro-Kremlin views on numerous occasions.
The parliament text also expressed concern about “alleged relations” between Catalan separatists in Spain and Russia.
