Media: EU watchdog probes into Russia-friendly lawmaker

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has asked the institution’s advisory body to examine whether Luxembourg MEP Fernand Kartheiser breached the EU legislature’s code of conduct after holding contacts with Russian officials, including video calls and trips to Russia during the war in Ukraine.

According to a letter seen by POLITICO, in the correspondence dated June 11, Metsola raises concerns over Kartheiser’s interactions with members of Russia’s State Duma and his participation in meetings that included a joint declaration calling to “continue and to deepen” cooperation between lawmakers on both sides.

That wording, she said, “give rise to serious concern” because it could “misrepresent” the position of the Parliament.

Kartheiser, who was previously removed from the European Conservatives and Reformists group after an earlier trip to Moscow, has held at least four video calls with members of the Russian Duma and travelled to Russia twice since the start of the war in Ukraine.

His most recent visit was on June 3, when he attended the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, a flagship event hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The European Parliament suspended official contacts with Russian legislative bodies in 2014, and Russian officials have been barred from accessing the institution since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Metsola also pointed to internal rules requiring members to uphold the institution’s standards, saying lawmakers’ “dignity and reputation” must be protected and that agreed sanctions “should not be circumvented by individual meetings.”

The advisory committee on the code of conduct will now assess whether Kartheiser failed to properly disclose meetings with third-country officials or any travel arrangements financed by outside parties. Any findings could lead to sanctions, including loss of daily allowances or suspension from parliamentary activities.

Kartheiser pushed back on the timing of the scrutiny, telling POLITICO: “I have not yet seen the letter in question, so I cannot comment on it. I find it odd that the press should receive letters concerning important matters relating to a particular MEP before the MEP themselves has received the document.”

He has previously declined to identify other MEPs who took part in meetings with Kremlin officials, though lawmakers from Germany’s Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, Slovakia’s Smer party, and Cypriot MEP Fidias Panayiotou were among those who travelled to Moscow during Victory Day celebrations in May 2025.

By Aghakazim Guliyev