NATO accuses Russia of malicious actions against Alliance countries
NATO members have expressed concern over Russia's recent malicious actions on the territory of Alliance countries and promised to respond "individually and collectively," according to a statement from NATO.
As noted, in recent weeks, accusations have been made against several individuals in connection with hostile state activity spanning Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
"These incidents are part of an intensifying campaign of activities which Russia continues to carry out across the Euro-Atlantic area, including on Alliance territory and through proxies. This includes sabotage, acts of violence, cyber and electronic interference, disinformation campaigns, and other hybrid operations," the statement reads.
NATO members have expressed "deep concern" over Russia's hybrid actions, which pose a threat to Alliance security.
"We support and stand in solidarity with the affected Allies. We will act individually and collectively to address these actions, and will continue to coordinate closely," the statement emphasizes.
Alliance members also pledged to continue strengthening resilience to Russian hybrid threats and called on Russia to "uphold its international obligations, as Allies do theirs."
"Russia's actions will not deter Allies from continuing to support Ukraine," NATO added.
Russian propaganda
Recently, the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, stated that Russia was bribing members of the European Parliament to spread propaganda. According to him, close cooperation was established between Belgian and Czech intelligence services to dismantle the Russian propaganda network.
A representative of the Belgian Prime Minister told journalists that this was mentioned in the context of Czechia imposing sanctions against the news website Voice of Europe, through which Russian propaganda was also disseminated.
Additionally, the Czech Security Information Service reported that Russia is exerting influence on EU member states' territories and attempting to influence political processes.
Moreover, it was recently reported that the Belgian prosecutor's office is investigating Russia's interference in European politics.
Ahead of the EU leaders' summit, Prime Ministers Alexander De Croo of Belgium and Petr Fiala of Czechia called for new sanctions against Russia due to the attempts of the aggressor country to interfere in the European Parliament elections.