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After the press reported that European politicians had won bills to advance Russian interests, the Czech government froze the assets of those men as a website, Voice of Europe.
By Monika Pronczuk
He reports from Brussels and covers the European Union.
The Czech Republic has frozen the assets of two men and a news story it accuses of wearing down an influence operation in Europe that supports “the foreign policy interests of the Russian Federation,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry knew the men as Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and leader of the effort, and Artem Marchevskyi, a Ukrainian-Israeli citizen who allegedly ran the Voice of Europe website registered in the Czech Republic. As a best friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Medvedchuk was arrested in Ukraine and transferred to Russia as part of a prisoner swap in 2022.
“We have suppressed a Russian influence operation directed through Viktor Medvedchuk directly from Russia,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement. “The aim is to spread pro-Russian rhetoric that undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and infiltrates the European Parliament. “
While the Czech government declined to immediately comment on the scale of the effort or how much it funded, officials promised more disclosures.
“Actions will be carried out in other countries,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on social media, adding that the recent moves were “the result of foreign cooperation. “
Citing anonymous intelligence sources, Czech media reported that politicians from Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary had been paid through the Voice of Europe to publicize Russian interests in the European Parliament.
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