Brussels
EU leaders on Wednesday considered responses to allegations of Russian interference ahead of the region's general elections in June, with several countries pushing ahead with sanctions targeting Russia's “malicious activities.”
Brussels has stepped up its warnings that Russia is spreading disinformation ahead of the polls to undermine Western support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
The issue has come to the fore dramatically in recent weeks after Czech intelligence discovered evidence that the agency had received funds to spread Kremlin propaganda through a Prague-based news site. did. The allegations are currently being investigated in Belgium, which hosts the EU's highest body.
European Council President Charles Michel, speaking after the first day of the summit in Brussels, said EU leaders had agreed to work together to address and counter the threat of Russian interference.
“We need to be more vigilant, we need to cooperate more,” he told reporters, adding that Russia needed to show “we are not naive.”
“We need to bring together the tools we have, European institutions on the one hand and national authorities on the other,” he said.
Prime Ministers Alexander de Croo and Petr Fiala of Belgium and the Czech Republic had called on their fellow leaders to consider new sanctions to counter Russia's “malign activities”.
EU leaders cited this threat in their draft summit conclusions, pledging to “closely monitor and contain” risks such as “foreign intelligence manipulation and interference in the electoral process.”
Decroo also said that the Belgian EU Presidency and the European Parliament would set up a joint task force to track developments and liaise with national authorities.
But with pro-Russian leaders such as Hungary's Viktor Orbán and Slovakia's Roberto Fico in attendance, EU leaders make further progress in politically tense efforts ahead of June's European elections. It seems highly unlikely.
Members of Parliament in doubt
The EU parliament's suspicions center around a site called “Voice of Europe,” which is known for publishing articles repeating Russian messages and giving airtime to guests who do so.
“If I can see a report with concrete evidence about the money used to influence the outcome of the election, that's enough for me,” Decroo told reporters after the summit.
“Our intelligence community can detect this, but the question is how to counter it,” he said. “Don’t wait until the election results are in to take action.”
Earlier, European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola told leaders that Russia's attempts to “distort the narrative and strengthen pro-Kremlin sentiment” ahead of the June polls were no longer “just a threat and would need to be countered.” He warned that there was a possibility that he would have to make preparations.
“The European Parliament stands ready to support Member States in every possible way to prevent and counter malicious interference in our democratic decision-making processes,” he said.
The Russian disinformation tactics identified by EU officials go beyond publishing outright false information. Mixing factual fragments with false stories can confuse and mislead readers, and can lead to distrust in all news sources, including trusted news sources.
Prague has imposed sanctions on European Voice and two pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politicians, Viktor Medvedchuk and Artem Malchevsky, in connection with the network's activities.
The Green Party of the European Parliament and a Czech daily reported that the members suspected of speaking Russian propaganda on Voice of Europe were from Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland.
Czech and German media have named two candidates from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Petr Bystrón and Maximilian Kula, as suspects of receiving funds from Russia. Both deny receiving payments.
EU lawmakers face strict rules on independence and ethics, and breaches can result in financial and other penalties.
The investigation by the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office is looking into foreign individuals or entities suspected of making “donations, loans and benefits” to gain influence.
The European Parliament's main political group is calling on parliament to investigate the alleged propaganda campaign.
Belgian and Czech leaders also appealed for the European Public Prosecutor's Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office to prosecute such political interference.
