President of the EP Roberta Metsola announced that Ždanoka would not be allowed to represent the Parliament at conferences, foreign visits, and other events until the end of the current parliamentary term. The daily allowance for five days will be withheld from Ždanoka for a total of EUR 1,750.
Ždanoka claimed that the penalty was for incorrect filing of the declaration where she failed to mention several public organizations "where neither she nor anyone else had received a salary". She hasn't been asked to account for it before and she doesn't feel guilty, said Ždanoka.
After receiving the punishment, she told LTV that it was not related to the issue of cooperation with Russia. “It was nothing. It is Parliament's punishment for the declaration of financial interests being inconsistent,“ Ždanoka stressed.
As reported earlier by LSM, the State Security Service (VDD) has opened a criminal case against Tatjana Ždanoka for alleged cooperation with Russian special services.
Leaked emails show that Latvian MEP Ždanoka regularly reported to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) about her activities and asked for money to organize events at least since 2004, but she denies working with the Russian intelligence services and refers to her contacts as her youth friend, the Baltic Centre for Investigative Journalism "Re:Baltica" reported in January. The emails were leaked to the Russian investigative magazine "The Insider", which shared the information with "Re:Baltica", the Estonian portal "Delfi" and the Swedish newspaper "Expressen".
