Marchevsky says he intends to legally challenge decision to place him on Czech sanctions list

One of the two new people recently placed on Czechia's national sanctions list, 35-year-old Artem Marchevsky, has said that he intends to legally challenge the decision to put him on the list. Speaking to Czech daily Deník N through his lawyer, he said that he did not pay off any politicians and that his lawyers are already preparing a lawsuit to defend him against the claims that he tried to influence the upcoming European Parliament elections.

The Czech government added three new names to its sanctions list last week — as well as Artem Marchevsky, his close associate Viktor Medvedchuk, another Ukrainian politician and businessman with close ties to Russia, and the pro-Kremlin Prague-based news website Voice of Europe were also placed on the list — following the uncovering of a Russian-organised network that was attempting to influence the European Parliament elections in various countries. The Czech counterintelligence agency, BIS, discovered that cash was being handed over to anti-establishment politicians from countries such as Germany, Belgium and France by the Prague-based pro-Russian network.