The Voice of Europe scandal is merely the latest example of Russian influence on the continent. Last year, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed that politicians in Germany, Italy, and Cyprus were paid by Russian operatives to introduce legislation literally written by Russian intelligence officers. The OCCRP also uncovered examples of parliamentary staff members, party activists, and members of think tanks publishing articles in European press outlets under their name, while the articles were actually written by Russian handlers.

And we cannot say if the financial transactions we do know about are nefarious. But the pattern paints a disturbing picture, particularly given many House Republicans’ rabid opposition to Ukraine aid and Trump’s reported Ukraine peace plan, which would cede Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine to Russia. A similar plan was floated by Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, and his partner Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian intelligence operative, during the 2016 election. Among the entities promoted by the Voice of Europe propaganda network was Hungary’s Center for Fundamental Rights, which “considers preserving national identity, sovereignty, and Judeo-Christian social traditions as its primary mission.” CFR is funded by the government of Viktor Orbán and has twice organized a conference in Budapest for the Conservative Political Action Committee, which helps shape policy on the American right.

One activist from Austria even complained to his handler about the quality of one article that had been coordinated with the Kremlin. “I am not a robot,” he said. Nevertheless, he published the article under his name in a Swiss media outlet. It is naïve to think the same pattern does not exist in the United States, given the ample evidence of coordinated pro-Russian talking points from several Republican politicians. Just this week, Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke to Steve Bannon about Ukraine’s persecution of Christians, which is a Kremlin talking point aimed at boosting the pro-Moscow wing of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church.

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Russia Is Buying Politicians in Europe. But now even some prominent GOP members of Congress are sounding the alarm. Is It Happening Here Too? A former CIA officer explains how a vast, pro-Putin corruption network uncovered in Europe is a warning sign for the U.S. Democrats for years have warned about Russian influence in the Republican Party under Donald Trump. “I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base,” Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck’s Julia Ioffe last week.

Looking back at yesterday’s data, the ECB Bank Lending Survey for Q1 showed a continued turn in the bank credit cycle. And from central banks, there’s a policy decision from the Bank of Canada, and we’ll get the FOMC minutes from the March meeting. Finally in the US, the NFIB’s small business optimism index fell to an 11-year low of 88.5 in March (vs. That said, whether this improvement materialises may well depend on whether expectations of upcoming ECB rate cuts prove accurate. Otherwise, there’s Italian retail sales for February. But with banks expecting further normalisation in Q2, the BLS points to an improving cyclical picture in the euro area. To the day ahead now, and the main data highlight will be the US CPI release for March. Pockets of weakness were still evident, including a deterioration in demand for corporate loans, probably reflecting the rise in rates since the start of the year.