Europe live: Calls for European parliament to investigate possible Russian interference in elections

The Greens have also called for an investigation into possible Russian interference attempts in Europe’s upcoming elections.

“This isn’t the first time it’s been proven that those far right politicians who loudly claim to champion the cause of their country, are secretly accepting money from foreign countries,” said European Green lead candidate Terry Reintke.

She added:

This undermines our European unity. This is how Putin is trying to get away with his war in Ukraine. This is not just a breach of trust; it’s a direct attack on the very fabric of our democracy. The politicians who have received money from Russia should be severely punished, both politically and legally.

Bas Eickhout, also a lead candidate for the Greens, said “there must be a swift and thorough European-wide investigation to get to the bottom of this. The European elections are in 10 weeks’ time.”

He added: “We need to be sure that none of the candidates for these elections are being paid by Russians.”

“We have uncovered a pro-Russian network that was developing an operation to spread Russian influence and undermine security across Europe,” the Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, announced yesterday.

“Our work and efforts are leading to other countries in Europe investigating the activities of pro-Russian spy networks and gradually coming to more serious conclusions,” he added.

The Czech foreign ministry said that the country’s government had added one legal entity and two individuals to its sanctions list.

“This decision is in the security interest of the of the Czech Republic, as well as contributing to the protection of the democratic processes in relation to the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament,” the ministry said in a statement.

The president of Renew Europe, Valérie Hayer, has written to the president of the European parliament asking for an urgent investigation into reports that a Russian influence network had paid current or former members of the European parliament.

“I write to express the Renew Europe Group’s grave concerns about reports, confirmed by Polish, Czech and Belgian security services and by the Prime ministers of Belgium and the Czech Republic, that Members of this House and candidates in the forthcoming European elections have been paid by the Russia Government or its proxies to disseminate propaganda in the European parliament and beyond,” Hayer wrote in the letter, dated today.

“This is clear attack on our European way of life, our parliament and its democratic mandate by a foreign power,” she stressed.

Hayer added:

We urge you to launch an immediate and transparent investigation, in cooperation with national authorities, to uncover the scale of the influence operation within this house and allegations of potential corruption.

If sitting MEPs or candidates in the upcoming European elections have taken money from or been corrupted by the Russia Government or their proxies, they must be exposed.

The Renew Europe leader also said the group had put in a request for an urgent debate on the subject.

And she called for action regarding Voice of Europe, the entity that was sanctioned by the Czech Republic.

We urge you to take the necessary steps to remove any access that the Voice of Europe has to the European parliament’s premises and protect the democratic integrity of this house. European sanctions should accompany those adopted by the Czech Government.

Good afternoon and welcome back to the Europe blog.

Today we will be looking at reactions and concerns after a number of European governments announced they had uncovered a Russian influence operation.

Send tips and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com