Dutch Parliament Demands Investigation into Russian Funding of Dutch Political Parties and Politicians

Dutch media is report­ing that the Dutch par­lia­ment has announced it wants the Court of Audit to inves­ti­gate Russ­ian financ­ing of Dutch polit­i­cal par­ties and politi­cians. Accord­ing to a NOS report:

Feb­ru­ary 28, 2022 A large major­i­ty in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives wants an inves­ti­ga­tion into the financ­ing of Dutch polit­i­cal par­ties and politi­cians by Rus­sia. That is one of the out­comes of the debate on the war in Ukraine.  The par­ties want the Court of Audit to inves­ti­gate in the short term whether and, if so, how polit­i­cal par­ties, politi­cians and inter­est groups are financed “with mon­ey from the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion or with mon­ey from Russ­ian (legal) per­sons”.  The motion of par­ty leader Klaver of Groen­Links is sup­port­ed by all fac­tions in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, except the PVV. [Trans­lat­ed with Google Translate]

Read the rest here.

The report notes that the far-right Par­ty for Free­dom (PVV), found­ed and led by noto­ri­ous anti-Islam activist Geert Wilders, vot­ed against the par­lia­men­tary motion. PVV MPs also remained seat­ed when the Ukrain­ian ambas­sador vis­it­ed the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives while oth­er MPs greet­ed the diplomat.

In August, the Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report (GIOR) report­ed that far-right Euro­pean par­lia­men­tar­i­ans are often act­ing as agents of Russ­ian influ­ence in Brussels.

Last May, we report­ed that a Russ­ian linked To Pres­i­dent Putin tried to donate over 250,000 Euros to Splin­ter, a new­ly-found­ed polit­i­cal par­ty in the Nether­lands that describes itself as “green, pro­gres­sive, lib­er­al, and social democratic.”