Lawmakers in Europe were shocked by allegations that Tatiana Zhdanuka was working as a spy for Russia (Getty)

The American "Daily Beast" news site reported that a member of the European Parliament was accused of spying for Russia, noting that this opens a wide door of surprises with secrets that were not authorized to be published.

The website indicated that lawmakers in Europe were shocked by allegations that a member of the European Parliament representing Latvia, Tatiana Zhdanuka, was secretly working as a spy for Russia.

According to an investigative investigation conducted by the newspaper "The Insider", the Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism "ReBaltica" and the Swedish newspaper Expressen, Shdanuka worked to arrange personal meetings with her contacts in the Russian intelligence services, between Moscow and Brussels (the headquarters of the European Union).

Correspondence and finance

The investigative report cites emails and other correspondence, alleging that Shdanuka also requested funding from Russian intelligence officers and, on several occasions, exchanged draft initiatives and press releases with them.

The Daily Beast's national security correspondent, Shannon Vavra, says in her report that the European Parliament has opened an investigation into the matter, and that lawmakers in Latvia are warning of the presence of other spies among their ranks.

The American newspaper "Politico" reported that 3 members of the European Parliament - Sandra Kalnit, Roberts Zell, and Ivars Ijabz - wrote in a letter that they are convinced that Zhdanuka is not an isolated case, and that "there are other members of the European Parliament... who serve Russia's interests on behalf of Russia." Baptized. They continued to say that there were "public interventions, voting records, organized events, as well as covert activities."

Policy review

The head of the Legal Affairs Committee and Spanish parliamentarian, Adrian Vázquez Lazara, called for a review process to determine the policies that allowed Shadanuka to commit this sin.

“It would be unacceptable if there were representatives paid by the Kremlin working to destroy European democracy from within,” Lazzara said on social media. “Any links with Russia and its followers must be exposed and pursued.”

According to the Daily Beast report, Russia has always had well-placed sources of information in European countries, and Shdanuka is by no means alone. Officials in Estonia 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 on charges of sharing secrets with Moscow. A Hungarian member of the European Parliament was accused of spying on the European Union for Russia in 2017. There are many other recent examples, from Austria to Poland, the American news site reported.

Russia recruits a lot of spies

Bill Evanina, former head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told The Daily Beast that Russia spends “a lot of time, effort and resources recruiting agents not only from NATO countries, but also from neighboring countries, intelligence services and political bodies, especially at the lower level.” Because they assume they will rise to the highest positions.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, European countries have collectively expelled nearly 400 Russian spies, according to Britain's Foreign Intelligence Service (MI6).

Long service in the European Parliament

Šdanuka represented her country, Latvia, in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2018, and from 2019 to date.

The American website, citing investigations by The Insider newspaper, indicated that Zhdanuka secretly communicated with two of her handlers. She initially cooperated with a man named Dmitry Glady before the latter introduced her - via email - to another man called Sergey Krasin, which is the same name. Borrowed. Both men were allegedly officers of the Russian Federal Security Service.

In the correspondence, Shdanoka sent information that she described as “reports,” and at times claimed her apparent mission of intelligence gathering as “promised information.”

It is not entirely clear, at the present time, what will happen to Šdanuka given that she enjoys parliamentary immunity from prosecution, but her fate in Latvia seems fraught with danger, according to the “Daily Beast” report.

Source: Daily Beast