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The police search the Setúbal City Hall after learning that the people who processed the reception of Ukrainians have links with the Kremlin
the possible data breaches from refugees Ukrainians in Portugal They have provoked a strong controversy in the country. This Tuesday, the Judicial Police (PJ) has carried out searches in the Setúbal City Hall, near Lisbon, after it came to light a few weeks ago that the people in charge of processing the asylum applications of Ukrainian refugees have ties to the government of Russia.
In the spotlight is the marriage formed by Igor Khashin and his wife Yulia Kashina, both related to various associations of reception of immigrants, including the Association of Immigrants from Eastern Countries (Edinstvo), which worked with the Setúbal City Council. Shortly after the scandal became known, revealed by the weekly expressothe mayor of the municipality decided to separate the couple, both with dual Russian and Portuguese nationality and linked to the city since before the war in Ukraine.
The National Commission for Data Protection has launched an investigation to clarify whether the couple has violated data protection laws and has leaked information to the Russian authorities, both from people who have just arrived in the country – just over a hundred – and from their relatives in Ukraine. This was denounced at the beginning of April by the Ukrainian ambassador in Portugal and has been repeated on several occasions by associations of Ukrainians in the country, who point out that this situation may also be occurring in other municipalities.
Mayor pressured
The scandal has put the mayor of the city, André Martins, of the CDU coalition, formed by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Y the Greens. The fact that Martins belongs to the CDU has further fueled the controversy, as the communists have maintained an unclear position on the conflict in Ukraine since it began last February and have avoided siding with either side. The mayor insists, however, that the City Council did not have the power to investigate Edinstvo and has blamed the Portuguese Government for not providing the necessary information when required.
Martins’s explanations do not convince the Socialist Party (PS) nor the conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) -the other two parties with representation in the City Council- which have already presented two motions of censure to force the resignation of the mayor. At the moment Martins refuses to leave office and avoids giving explanations alleging that there is already an investigation underway, with which he has been open to collaborate.
ongoing investigations
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The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes, assured this Tuesday that the investigation will reach her ultimate consequences. “I can guarantee that this Government will not allow the law to be violated or those who arrive in Portugal not to be treated with dignity and respect,” Mendes explained in an appearance in Parliament. Mendes has insisted, however, that this situation not widespread throughout the country.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has also been in favor of an investigation. has opened the door to other similar cases. Portugal already has a history of data protection violations. In the middle of last year it came to light that the Lisbon City Council, then in the hands of the PS, had sent Russia data on those attending a demonstration against the government of Vladimir Putin in front of the Russian embassy in the Portuguese capital. The Consistory had to pay a fine of 1.2 million euros a few months later.