1 apr 2024 om 21:40 Update: 3 min. geleden
The government and intelligence service AIVD do not comment on whether Dutch politicians are involved in Russian bribery. The House of Representatives had expressly requested this last week after the Czech secret service announced that European politicians had been paid by Russia.
It is “contrary to the task” of the AIVD to respond to names circulating in Czech media, outgoing Minister of the Interior Hugo de Jonge wrote in a letter to Parliament on Monday evening. De Jonge is responsible for the AIVD.
This “does not serve national security” and furthermore does not fit with “the legal obligation to maintain confidentiality of the working methods” of the AIVD, according to the minister.
The Czech intelligence service BIS warned last week that Russia is trying to exert influence through payments to politicians, for example on the European elections later this spring.
The Czech newspaper Denik N reported that in addition to the Netherlands, this also involved politicians from the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Poland, Belgium and Hungary.
In response to that message, a majority in Parliament immediately asked for clarification. “Man and horse must be mentioned,” said PVV leader Geert Wilders. On Tuesday, the House will debate with De Jonge about the possible bribery of Dutch politicians by Russia.
No names, De Jonge is concerned
Names are therefore not mentioned by De Jonge. He calls the reports worrying and has asked the Czech authorities whether they intend to make more information public. That is just “not the case now”, writes De Jonge.
Czech authorities did not name any specific countries, individuals or organizations in statements last week.
The AIVD itself also conducts research into covert influence on Dutch politics by other countries. According to De Jonge, Russia’s attempts to do so fits in with the increasingly grim geopolitical picture. Moscow particularly wants to undermine Western support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
FVD and PVV had contact with Russian site
It was made clear that Russian influence via Voice of Europe went. A Czech right-wing radical site with mainly pro-Russian propaganda.
Wilders and FVD leader Thierry Baudet have also been interviewed for this site in the past. The Dutch MEP Marcel de Graaff, former PVV, now FVD, was also regularly seen there.
Baudet was interviewed last summer about the war in Ukraine. In it he explains the FVD position that Russia has been provoked by the West and is therefore allowed to defend itself.
Wilders said during a 2017 interview with Voice of Europe that he admires the site and looks at it every day.
Both Baudet and Wilders have emphasized in recent days that they have not received any money from Russia.
