“And I want to apologize here and now before the people for not being a successful agent,” she added, bemoaning the dire state of relations between Russia and the EU.
Earlier in the debate, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas warned: “We are … witnessing since February ’22 a wave of disinformation used as a weapon by Russia in their aggressive war against Ukraine, distorting facts, publishing false denazification narratives and trying to take advantage of war fatigue to shift priorities and attention.”
“I believe it’s a duty of this House to investigate who else did what, under what conditions, to play the game of Moscow,” he said, describing the Ždanoka allegations as “deeply troubling.”
Other Latvian lawmakers have warned there are other MEPs knowingly serving Russian interests in Parliament, as first reported by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.
Ždanoka, who had already been banned from standing in the EU election in June, is now being investigated by the Parliament itself.
French centrist MEP Nathalie Loiseau, who has worked to root out foreign interference in the EU assembly, implored her colleagues: “Keep your eyes open and please remember that Russian manipulation is a weapon of mass destruction when it comes to our democracy.”
