Police raided the European Parliament official’s residence and office in the building’s headquarters in Brussels on suspicion of Russian interference, Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday, citing AP News.
Suspect Guillaume Pradura ally of European lawmaker Marcel de Graaf from the Dutch far-right party Forum for Democracy. Graaf’s office has not yet responded.
“The searches are part of a case of interference, passive corruption and participation in a criminal organization and relate to evidence of Russian interference in which members of the European Parliament were approached and paid to promote Russian propaganda through the news website Vozda Europe,” prosecutors said.
The suspect’s office in Strasbourg, France, was also the subject of searches by the European Union’s judicial cooperation bodies and the French judiciary.
This is an investigation that began in April. According to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, the country’s intelligence services have confirmed the existence of a network trying to undermine support for Ukraine.