Russia bribed officials in Europe to achieve recognition of the annexation of Crimea and get rid of sanctions. For the introduction of pro -Russian resolutions in the parliaments of their countries, European deputies could receive from 20 thousand euros, approved in a joint investigation of “important stories”, Eesti EKSPRESS, OCCRP, IRPI and Profil.
Investigators studied the leak from the postal box of the employee of the State Duma apparatus Sargis Mirzahanyan, who coordinated work with European politicians. Mirzakhanyan was reported that he was engaged in registered publications in Ukrainian and Russian media, hired bloggers, organized pro -Russian rallies, and also established relations with politicians of several European countries at once.
This was done, in particular, to promote the pro -Russian agenda in the parliaments of European countries. In April 2016, the Veneto’s Italian Council introduced a draft resolution on the recognition of Crimea by Russian and the abolition of sanctions, the initiator of the issue was the deputy of the Council Stefano Valdegamberi. 27 deputies of the Veneto Council voted for the document then.
In June 2016, Mirzahanyan already wrote about the “Action Plan”, entitled “Resolution in Austria and Italy.” The letter stated that now the resolution will be submitted to the Senate of Italy and this will be done by a colleague of Waldemburi on the right batch of the League of the North, Senator Paolo Tosato, the investigators say.
“At the end of the document” Estimates “says:” 20,000 EUR + 20,000 EUR (entering), in case of successful voting +15 000 EUR in each case. “After a few days, Tosato really brought a resolution project to the parliament – the Italian Senate He rejected it on June 27, ”the material says.
The same document states the estimate for the introduction of a similar resolution and the Austrian parliament: “20,000 EUR, in case of successful voting +15 000 EUR”. And the performer is a deputy Johannes Hubner from the Austrian Party of Freedom. In June 2016, Hubner really introduced such a resolution, but most deputies did not support it.
Investigators found in the Mirzahanyan post, similar “plans for action” for Latvia, Greece and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). However, the most successful project of Kremlin political technologists, as noted, was Cyprus, where in July 2016 the parliament nevertheless supported the resolution similar in content.