DAILY BEAST
Lawmakers in Europe have been shaken by allegations that Tatjana Ždanoka, a Latvian member of the European Parliament, has been working undercover as a Russian spy.
Since at least 2003, Ždanoka worked to arrange in-person meetings with her Russian intelligence contacts, from Moscow to Brussels, according to a joint investigation conducted by The Insider, Delfi Estonia, the Re:Baltica journalism center, and Sweden’s Expressennewspaper. The investigation cites emails and other correspondence, and alleges that Ždanoka also requested funding from the intelligence officers, and shared draft initiatives and press releases with them on several occasions.
The European Parliament has opened an investigation into the matter—and lawmakers in Latvia are warning that there are other Russian spies in their ranks.
“We are convinced that Ždanoka is not an isolated case,” Sandra Kalniete, Roberts Zīle and Ivars Ijabs wrote in a letter, according to Politico. “There are other MEPs… knowingly serving Russia’s interests.” There are “public interventions, voting record[s], organized events, as well as covert activities,” the three lawmakers wrote.
The head of the legal affairs committee and a Spanish parliamentarian, Adrian Vazquez Lazara, has called for a review process to determine what policies allowed Ždanoka to fall so far from grace.
“It would be intolerable if there were deputies paid by the Kremlin working to destroy European democracy from within,” Lazara said on social media. “Any links with Russia and its satellites must be uncovered and pursued.”
Russia has long prized well-placed assets in European countries, and Ždanoka is by no means alone. Estonian officials recently arrested a professor accused of spying for Russia. Last year, a former intelligence agent was sentenced to prison for passing sensitive information to Russia. In 2022, German authorities arrested a man in the country’s foreign intelligence agency for sharing secrets with Moscow. A Hungarian member of the European Parliament was charged with spying on the EU for Russia in 2017. Other recent examples abound, from Austria to Poland…
