Following a probe led by the Czech Republic, European Union leaders agreed this week to launch a task force to counter Russian efforts to interfere in June's European elections.

The decision came two weeks after the Czech Republic's Security Information Service (BIS) reported that it had uncovered a network used by Russia to funnel cash to politicians across the EU.

Populists and nationalists in Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary were reportedly paid to push pro-Russian narratives with the goal of influencing the upcoming elections and weakening the EU's support for Ukraine in its defense against Moscow's aggression and war.

The cash was apparently routed through an anti-establishment website called Voice of Europe (VoE), which is based in the center of the Czech capital, Prague, and owned by Jacek Jakubczyk, a Pole.

The Czechs swiftly shuttered the site and imposed sanctions on pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedcuk and Artem Marchevsky, who had financed and managed the outlet respectively.

The BIS had reportedly followed Russian couriers travelling from Poland to Prague with suitcases stuffed with cash to fund the operation. Poland has seized large amounts of cash and charged one person with working for the Russian secret services.

Although the names of the politicians on the receiving end of this financial funnel have not been revealed, suspicion centers on those featured on VoE.

One of the politicians accused of receiving money from VoE is Petr Bystron, a Czech-born lawmaker for Germany's far-right populist Alternative for Germany party........

© Deutsche Welle