Belgium’s federal prosecutor opened an investigation into the pro-Russian propaganda network which is accused of paying MEPs to promote the Kremlin’s agenda.
“Our judicial authorities have now confirmed that this interference is subject to a prosecution,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said during a press conference Friday.
De Croo later added to Belgian public broadcaster VRT that the federal prosecutor has decided to open a formal probe. No cash payments took place in Belgium, but there’s still grounds for an investigation, De Croo said.
“The influencing is, of course, with regard to a democratic institution that has a seat in our country, so the federal prosecutor has decided to open an investigation on what has happened there,” he said.
The Belgian probe is a sign that the EU’s Russiagate scandal is escalating, as it marks one of the first formal actions taken after Czech authorities sanctioned the news site Voice of Europe, which Prague said was a pro-Russian influence operation aimed at influencing the European election.
The Czechs also sanctioned Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a person called Artem Pavlovich Marchevskyi presumed to be involved in the operation.
De Croo was one of the first European leaders to speak up about the influence operation two weeks ago when he told the Belgian parliament that Russia had approached MEPs and “paid” them.
He gave more details Friday, saying that the “Moscow objectives are clear.”
Russia wants to “help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the European Parliament and to reinforce a certain pro-Russian narrative in that institution,” he said.