Belgiums chief regulator of intelligence services warned that Russia would seek to meddle in local elections coming up in October, he told Belgian magazine Knack and newspaper Le Soir in an interview published Wednesday.
Guy Rapaille, who oversees the watchdog for intelligence services in Belgium, Comité R, urged intelligence services to pay close attention to Russian meddling in Belgiums upcoming local elections in October, as well as regional, federal and European elections in May 2019.
He pointed to revelations that the Russian state had contacts with far-right parties. “In France there were sometimes troubling relations with the [far-right party of Marine Le Pen] National Front, one could imagine the same in Belgium too,” he said.
The U.S. National Security Agency and “without a doubt the Russians and Chinese” intercept communications in Belgium, Rapaille said.
He added that Moroccan and Turkish intelligence services were more active in Belgium than before.
Rapaille is stepping down from his role in mid-July.
