Russia has infiltrated EU senior officials' circle — Western intelligence agencies

This was reported by Politico.

According to intelligence, Serbian citizen Novica Antic is an active "agent of influence" of the Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB.

According to the documents, in October 2023, Antic met with European officials in Brussels, including members of the European Parliament.

Among them are German Green MP Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Italian Socialist and Democrat MP Alessandra Moretti, and Slovak member of the conservative group of the European People's Party Vladimir Bilcik.

However, the intelligence report notes that there is no indication that Moretti, Bilcik, and von Cramon-Taubadel were aware of Antic's ties to the FSB.

In addition, Antic, the chair of the Serbian Military Trade Union, met with representatives of EUROMIL and EPSU, which represent the interests of military and civil service personnel in the European Union.

Antic works closely with FSB officer Vyacheslav Kalinin, a Russian citizen and editor-in-chief of Veteran News, a media site specializing in news for veterans of the armed forces. 

The "About Us" section of the website states that Veteran News is an "information partner" of the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Defense, as well as other Russian law enforcement agencies.

Kalinin invited Antic to Russia to meet with senior Russian military leaders in 2019-2020. Their initial goal was to influence Serbian civil society, but they later expanded their scope to include European trade union and veterans' organizations, and in recent months, members of the European Parliament.

The intelligence service added that Kalinin also recruited other people, without specifying how many and in which countries.

In particular, Antic used his role as head of Serbia's military alliance to criticize President Aleksandar Vucic and the country's top leadership of the armed forces.

"They took every opportunity to promote Russian propaganda relating to the war in Ukraine," the statement said, citing meetings in Serbia and EU countries.

Antic is currently in custody on unspecified charges.