The Federal Judicial Police of Brussels searched on Wednesday the offices of a European Parliament employee in Brussels and his residence in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek. The French judicial authorities raided the employee's office in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said the searches were carried out as part of a case of "interference, passive corruption and membership of a criminal organization, [which] relates to indications of Russian interference." The prosecutor said the members of the European Parliament were approached and paid to promote Russian propaganda via the Voice of Europe, a media outlet placed under sanctions by the European Union earlier this week. The prosecutor added there are indications that the employee whose offices were searched today "played a significant role in this."
