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Russia Paid EU Lawmakers to Spread Propaganda, Says Belgian PM

He did not name the lawmakers who had been solicited by Russia.

Russia paid members of European parliament to promote propaganda, according to the Prime Minister of Belgium. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the Belgian and Czech governments had discovered the plot while in “close collaboration” as part of an effort to crush a Russian propaganda network, according to Politico “It came for example to light that Russia has approached MEPs, but also paid [them], to promote Russian propaganda here,” De Croo said, during a debate about foreign interference on Thursday in Belgium’s national parliament in Brussels. He did not name the lawmakers who had allegedly been solicited by Russia. On Wednesday, the Czech government issued sanctions against news outlet Voice of Europe and its financier, the Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wrote that the sanctions had “hit a pro-Russian network.” A spokesperson for De Croo said his comment was referencing these sanctions.