- Effective immediately, Russian company representatives are no longer permitted.
- The European Parliament has barred all Russian lobbyists from its premises.
- Metsola urged all other EU institutions, including the European Commission.
The European Parliament has barred all Russian lobbyists from its premises in order to prevent them from spreading Moscow’s “propaganda” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the European Parliament’s speaker on Thursday.
“Effective immediately, Russian company representatives are no longer permitted to enter European Parliament premises,” tweeted Roberta Metsola.
“We must not allow them any space to spread their propaganda & false, toxic narratives about the invasion of Ukraine,” she said.
Metsola urged all other EU institutions, including the European Commission and the European Council, to follow suit.
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A parliament spokesman said the ban was a response to “Russia creating and spreading false narratives about the war in Ukraine through multiple channels, including through state-owned companies”.
The prohibition applies to Russian companies listed as employing lobbyists to the EU as well as those on the bloc’s sanction blacklist.
In 2015, the parliament barred Russian diplomats from its premises, which included chambers and annexes in Brussels and the French city of Strasbourg, in response to Moscow barring several EU politicians who spoke out against Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
The ban was welcomed by German Green MEP Erik Marquardt, who said that “especially oil and gas lobbyists” working on behalf of Russian companies had been trying to “spread propaganda and disinformation” in recent months.
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