EU to impose sanctions on Voice of Europe media for interference in European elections

Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission (photo: flickr.com/cor-photos)

The European Union will impose sanctions on the Voice of Europe media platform, which is linked to Viktor Medvedchuk. Voice of Europe was found to be involved in an attempted Russian interference in the European Parliament elections, says Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission.

According to Jourová, the restrictions on Voice of Europe will be included in the 14th package of European sanctions against Russia, which is already being worked on in the European Union.

The sanctions list may also include Viktor Medvedchuk and his associate Artem Marchevskyi, who is the head of Voice of Europe. This is a proposal put forward by the Czech Republic.

According to Jourová, she does not yet know whether Medvedchuk and Marchevskyi will be sanctioned, but Voice of Europe will definitely be in the 14th sanctions package.

The Voice of Europe scandal

At the end of March, the Czech Republic exposed a Russian network that used the Voice of Europe media platform to try to influence the results of the upcoming European Parliament elections.

Through Voice of Europe, the agency bribed pro-Russian European politicians and spread pro-Russian narratives to discredit Ukraine and its supporters in Europe.

After that, Medvedchuk, who, according to Czech intelligence services, financed the media platform, and its head, Marchevskyi, were subject to Czech national sanctions.

Subsequently, Marchevskyi fled to Slovakia, where he was granted temporary protection.