SP’er Tiny Kox has been named in a leaked report as a ‘connected’ Russian spy

The London Organization’s File Center, run by oligarch and Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, released suspected intelligence reports this week from former Russian diplomat Valery Levitsky. He worked for years in France, but was expelled from the country in 2018 for spying activities for Russian intelligence. in their reports Norwegian Refugee Council Unsubstantiated, Levitsky describes Socialist Party member Tiny Cox as the “contact person” in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Cox was for many years the leader of the united European left in this body – not part of the European Union – that monitors human rights compliance in member states. Cox has been president of the association since the beginning of this year.

According to the documents, Levitsky claims that he was the first to come up with the idea of ​​introducing Cox as a presidential candidate. He is said to have suggested this to former Secretary-General Bruno Aller in August 2017. Cox contacted him. At first, he objected that the leader of the left would never lead the meeting … On reflection, Bruno agreed: in the absence of other strong personalities, he would prefer the candidacy of Teni,” the report said.

purely friendly

A few days later, Levitsky had also discussed running with CDA’s Rene van der Linden. Van der Linden is a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, who chaired the association between 2005 and 2008. According to the documents, Levitsky defended Cox during a summer 2017 visit to Van der Linden in France. “He spent Saturday with Rene at his home in Savoy,” the report read. When asked, Van der Linden admitted that he received the Russian during his vacation. “It was quite friendly. We never talked about the association for a moment,” says van der Linden, who, like Bruno Aller, maintained contacts in Strasbourg after his retirement.

Van der Linden had previously lost credibility when he was ambassador to the province of Limburg for €116,160, especially the ties he fostered with Azerbaijan, which is known for its human rights abuses. Van der Linden was on friendly terms with the dictator Ilham Aliyev and in a short time led six Limburg trade missions to that country.

It was not unreasonable for the Russians to want to see Cox as president of the Assembly in Strasbourg. At the end of 2017, the Socialist Socialist Party was one of the initiators of a consultation in Paris between members of the Russian parliament and parliamentarians on returning voting rights to Russians. European governments have never wanted to take away the right to vote from Russia. “It’s not up to the association to do that,” Cox said at the time.

He was the secretary of the Russian delegation. He delivered the coffee

Tiny Cox About contact with Levitsky

In response, he now says that he never met Levitsky. He was the secretary of the Russian delegation. “He delivered the coffee,” Cox says. However, SP acknowledges that he still speaks regularly with Van der Linden. Cox doesn’t think it’s surprising that the CDA member met the Russian spy while on vacation. It was not known at the time that he was working in the intelligence service. As president, René once met Putin and remained fascinated by Russia. I don’t find it strange at all for him to see someone from this delegation after he retires.”