A Dutch legislator in the European Parliament, Marcel de Graaff, has distanced himself from Belgian police searches of his employee's offices and home on Wednesday, as part of an investigation into an alleged Russian influence operation.
"I have no involvement whatsoever in any so-called Russian disinformation operation," he said in a post on social media platform X.
De Graaff said he "learned through the media that the home and office" of his employee had been searched by police. He added that he spoke to the assistant who said he was not aware of the search.
"The authorities have not contacted me or him. To me this all comes as a complete surprise," he said.
De Graaff's parliamentary aide was formerly employed by Maximilian Krah, a German member of the EU legislature from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The German EU legislator Krah confirmed on X that the parliamentary aide was a former assistant of his.
Krah has been under pressure in recent weeks with allegations of espionage activities linked to Russia.
German police also arrested another, different, former assistant of Krah's, Jian Guo, on suspicion of espionage last month. Krah fired him following allegations that he was spying for China.
Police searched the offices of the European Parliament employee in Brussels and Strasbourg.
The employee "played a significant role" in approaching and paying EU legislators to promote Russian propaganda via the pro-Kremlin website Voice of Europe (VoE), Belgian state prosecutors said.
The law enforcement action took place ahead of EU-wide elections early next month to decide the next European Parliament.
The searches were part of a broader operation concerning a "case of interference, passive corruption and membership of a criminal organization," Belgian state prosecutors said.
Police also searched the home of the parliament employee in Schaerbeek in the north of Brussels. Their identity was not provided.
In April, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo revealed that his country's intelligence services uncovered a Russian operation to influence the European Parliament elections and the EU institution.
Moscow's objective was very clear, De Croo said at the time, citing classified intelligence. "Help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the European Parliament and to reinforce a certain pro-Russian narrative in that institution."
De Croo said this was designed to weaken the European Union's support for Ukraine against the full-scale Russian invasion.
The Belgian prime minister said his country's intelligence services confirmed the existence of pro-Russian influence networks in Belgium and "several European countries."
De Croo's announcement followed Czech media reporting, citing intelligence sources, that far-right politician Petr Bystron, an AfD member of the German parliament, and his party colleague Krah, were suspected of having contact with VoE and may have accepted money from them.
The EU has since sanctioned VoE, among other Russian-linked media companies, and banned the outlets from publishing or broadcasting in the bloc.
