Leaders warn EU to resist Russian election interference

BRUSSELS — The leaders of Belgium and the Czech Republic are warning their European Union partners to take urgent action to prevent Russian interference in June’s Europe-wide elections, after the two countries’ intelligence services uncovered evidence of attempts to bribe EU lawmakers.

“We simply cannot allow Russia to get away with such a blatant attack on our democratic institutions and principles,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and his Czech counterpart Peter Fiala said in a letter, as EU leaders held a summit in Brussels on Thursday.

“We must arm ourselves against this, both at national and European level,” they wrote.

Last week, with campaigning for the June 6-9 elections starting to gather momentum, De Croo said that Belgium’s intelligence service has confirmed the existence of a network trying to undermine Euro pean support for Ukraine.

The Czech government has imposed sanctions on a number of people after a pro-russian influence operation was uncovered there. They are alleged to have approached members of the European Parliament and offered them money to promote Russian propaganda.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a hidden campaign to influence the 2016 race in favor of Donald Trump over Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.