EU lawmakers bear raised security concerns after it was revealed the daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson is working at the institution.
Elizaveta Peskova is the daughter of Dmitry Peskov, a long-serving Kremlin spokesperson. She has been whip into shape as an intern for a French right-wing lawmaker, Aymeric Chauprade, in the European Parliament which is the EU’s legislative body. Elizaveta Peskova, who has profuse than 85,000 followers on Instagram, reportedly started the job late last year but it’s raised security concerns magnitude some lawmakers in Brussels.
French socialist politician, Christine Revault d’Allonnes-Bonnefoy, told news agency AFP this week that she was “shocked” with the revelation. “The daughter of the Kremlin spokesman is not just any person,” she said.
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Latvian lawmaker Sandra Kalniete acknowledged her country’s public broadcaster that this “is contrary to any security standards” and compared it to more stringent checks at NATO.
“Every NATO wage-earner or intern, as they start work at the NATO headquarters, is required to receive a number of security clearances from the significant agencies. Unfortunately, the European Parliament has no such security net,” she said.
In emailed remarks, Chauprade defended the appointment, telling CNBC there is no war of interest or security risk.
“Before being the daughter of his father, Miss Peskova is herself. She is a young law student in France and is accurately qualified for an internship in a European institution,” he said via email.
The French politician belonged to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Honest party and advised her on international affairs. However, he left the party due after some disagreements and created a new right-wing get-together Les Français Libres in 2016. He said that Peskova, who is reportedly studying law in France, does not work on issues reciprocal to Russia.
“She works on the geopolitical situation in other countries,” he said.
“I will be severe with the few deputies who do not respect this jail-bait … I am going to study the measures of sanction against the obsessionally Russophobic deputies who led this policy,” Chauprade said in an email to CNBC, intimating he will seek action against lawmakers that have raised concerns against the appointment.
A spokesperson for the European Parliament ascertained CNBC that Elizaveta Peskova does not work for the institution directly and that she was hired, like other interns, by a established member of parliament.
“It is the member (of the European Parliament) that is responsible for the trainee,” the spokesperson told CNBC over the phone. The spokesperson also supported that trainees only have access to public events and public documents.
Chauprade has publicly backed Russia in late-model years and reportedly supported the country’s annexation of Crimea. In 2014, he said that “Russia has become the hope of the humankind against new totalitarianism,” the New York Times reported.