Fidias Panayiotou: Moscow’s “mole” in the European Parliament
Updated: Oct 5
On May 9, 2025, a day held sacred by Putin’s propaganda, a group of five Members of the European Parliament flew into Moscow.
The group included:
Ruth Firmenich and Michael von der Schulenburg from Germany, members of the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).
Ľuboš Blaha from Slovakia, a member of the ruling Smer party.
Ondřej Dostál, an independent MEP from the Czech Republic.
Fidias Panayiotou, an independent MEP from the Republic of Cyprus.
The Russian media covered the MEPs’ arrival in detail and quoted their statements. Ruth Firmenich called the visit “a gesture against Russophobia,” while Blaha said that “Russia saved Europe from Nazism and deserves respect.”
Cypriot MEP Fidias Panayiotou called the Russians “brothers,” citing the religion and moral values they share with the Greeks. He criticized the EU for supporting Ukraine with weapons and money, calling it “insane and inhumane,” and urged the EU to pursue dialogue with Russia rather than military action. He also said he was voicing the views of people who favor friendship with Russia, and that they are the majority in Greece and Cyprus.
The MEPs’ actions drew sharp criticism. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola condemned their trip to Moscow as “undermining the EU’s position on the aggression against Ukraine.”
For the German MEPs (BSW), sanctions within The Left group were discussed, including the possible loss of their mandates in the event of systematic breaches of the EU’s foreign policy line. The foreign ministries of the Czech Republic and Cyprus condemned the trips made by their MEPs.
The European Parliament opened an inquiry into a possible breach of the MEPs’ code of conduct. The key question was who organized the trip and who paid for it.
Fidias Panayiotou vaguely stated that he had visited Moscow as a private individual and paid all expenses himself. He provided no documents to back this up.
The other participants also said they had visited Moscow “in a personal capacity” and organized the trip themselves, but gave no specific explanation of who had paid for it.
Under European Parliament rules, MEPs must file a declaration for every trip, including trips declared as private and personally paid for. The declaration must be filed within a month of the trip and state the source of funding and the extent of the costs covered.
On June 27, a declaration about his trip to Moscow was published on the European Parliament website, on the page of MEP Fidias Panayiotou.
German MEPs Ruth Firmenich and Michael von der Schulenburg published similar declarations on June 16 and June 15 respectively. Slovak MEP Ľuboš Blaha has still not done so. Apparently he cannot make up his mind.
According to these documents, the Moscow trip of Panayiotou, Schulenburg, Firmenich, Blaha and Dostál was organized by the Russian Peace Foundation. The foundation is the successor of the Soviet Peace Fund, set up in 1961 by decision of the USSR Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Formally, the Soviet Peace Fund was created to promote peace, international solidarity and disarmament and to support peace movements abroad. In reality, it served as a cover for espionage, sabotage, coups, provoking military conflicts, supporting terrorist groups, destabilizing Western countries and spreading communist propaganda and disinformation. The fund acted as a legal channel for financing Soviet agents abroad. That is what it was created for. The Russian Peace Foundation carries on this work.
According to an investigation by The Insider, the foundation collects data on its foreign guests (politicians, journalists, activists, NGO representatives) and passes it to the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Ministry of Defense for recruitment purposes, and does so systematically. This includes accreditation forms, questionnaires, photographs, passport copies and additional information about these people’s business and political connections.
The MEPs’ visit to Moscow in May 2025 fits perfectly into the foundation’s program of activities.
Each MEP attached the mandatory annex to their trip declaration: the program of the Moscow visit.
There is one small detail. The document published on Panayiotou’s page is a Word file.
tag1_tag1_last_modified_by_
value_value
PANAYIOTOU Feidias
tag1_tag1_create_date_value_value
2025:05:24 23:00:00Z
tag1_tag1_modify_date_value_value
2025:05:27 20:35:00Z
tag1_tag18_author_s_value_value
PANAYIOTOU Feidias [Feidias, PANAYIOTOU]
The other MEPs’ files are PDFs. Their attributes make it clear that the Word document was created by Fidias Panayiotou on May 24 and served as the master copy.
The annexes to the other MEPs’ declarations, published as PDFs, are printed and scanned copies of the original declaration that Panayiotou created in Word.
This is the program of German MEP Ruth Firmenich in PDF format.
And these are the attributes of that file:
tag1_create_date_value
2025:05:24 23:00:00Z
tag1_modify_date_value
2025:05:27 20:35:00Z
tag1_creator_value
PANAYIOTOU Feidias
tag1_company_value
European Parliament
The same pattern can be seen with the other MEPs who accompanied Fidias Panayiotou to Moscow.
It follows that Fidias Panayiotou knew the details of the Moscow program before the others and shared it with the rest of the group. That makes him the organizer: he put together the delegation of MEPs and coordinated his actions with Russian structures.
A visit to Moscow on Victory Day, Russia’s main state holiday, with participation in official state ceremonies and meetings with senior Russian officials, takes at least six months to prepare, if not longer. Protocol and security have to be agreed, meetings with high-ranking officials arranged, consequences weighed, and much more. The fact that the Russian special services, acting through the Russian Peace Foundation (RPF), entrusted Fidias Panayiotou with organizing this political demonstration speaks volumes and points to his special ties with Moscow.
The program itself is also revealing. First of all, Fidias Panayiotou spent one day longer in Moscow than the other members of the delegation.
Michael von der Schulenburg, Ruth Firmenich, Ľuboš Blaha and Ondřej Dostál left Moscow on May 10, the day after they arrived, while Fidias Panayiotou flew out on May 11. This may point to special treatment by Russian structures.
Judging by the photographs, Fidias Panayiotou stayed at The Carlton hotel during his visit to Moscow on May 9–11, 2025. On ordinary days a standard room there costs from 79,000 rubles a night, and a room overlooking Red Square, like Panayiotou’s, from 230,000 rubles a night (about €2,400). Given the date of the visit, May 9, the price was of course higher. Choosing such a luxurious hotel for a “self-financed” trip casts doubt on Panayiotou’s claim that he paid his own way. At Moscow prices, flights, accommodation, meals and transport would have cost him almost a month of an MEP’s salary (€8,000).
Program of the visit
May 9, 2025:
Morning
Arrival at Vnukovo Airport, Moscow, and transfer to the hotel
14:00 Lunch
15:30–16:30 Laying of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden.
18:00–19:30 Meeting at the Federation Council: exchange of views over tea with members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
(The meeting was attended by Fidias Panayiotou, Ruth Firmenich, Ľuboš Blaha and Ondřej Dostál. Schulenburg’s program lists a meeting with the chairman of the Russian delegation to the EU–Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. Open sources do not reveal whom Schulenburg actually met. Nor is it certain that the Federation Council, unlike the State Duma, has such a committee or delegation at all. This may be deliberate disinformation to conceal his contacts.)
20:00–21:00 Dinner.
May 10, 2025:
08:00 Breakfast at the hotel.
09:30–12:00 Exchange of views with experts and members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
14:00–16:30 Exchange of views with members of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
19:00–21:00 The ballet “Shurale” at the Bolshoi Theatre.
21:30–22:30 Dinner.
(Between events, Fidias managed to record an interview with the Greek Russophile and Putin admirer Thanasis Avgerinos, who was recruited by the Russian special services on ideological grounds in the early 1990s while studying at Moscow State University.
There is nothing unusual here: a routine media activity on the sidelines of the visit, meant to reach a Greek-speaking audience with strong sympathies for Russia.)
May 11, 2025 (Panayiotou only):
08:30–10:00 Breakfast at the hotel
Free day (no official meetings scheduled)
Evening departure from Vnukovo Airport, Moscow
As noted above, apart from Panayiotou the whole group left Moscow on the evening of May 10, after the ballet and dinner that are obligatory on such occasions.
Fidias left Moscow on May 11, apparently in the afternoon.
To understand the significance and hidden meaning of Fidias Panayiotou’s protocol events and contacts, we turned to experts in Brussels with experience of diplomatic dealings with Russian agencies. After studying the program and the photographs of Panayiotou, the experts reached the following conclusions:
“May 9:
For ordinary MEPs, taking part in the wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on May 9 is extraordinary.
On this day flowers are laid ONLY by top-level politicians: Putin and Russia’s most senior leaders, heads of state and government delegations. This is impossible to square with the claim by Panayiotou and the other members of the delegation that they came to Moscow in a ‘personal’ capacity. On the contrary, it shows a high level of protocol support from the Russian authorities, which is out of the question for a ‘personal’ trip, as Panayiotou claimed. Taking part in the May 9 ceremony and meeting State Duma Speaker Volodin show that the visit was organized at a high level, involving Russian bodies such as the Foreign Ministry, the State Duma and the RPF. This rules out the ‘personal’ nature of the trip, all the more so since the visit was used to promote the narrative of international support for Russia, including through Panayiotou’s media reach. Nor does an ‘exchange of views’ with members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, or a visit to the State Duma for the same purpose, fit the format of a private tourist trip by MEPs.”
Experts in Brussels who analyzed Fidias Panayiotou’s program laughed until they cried at the item about an “exchange of views over tea” at the Federation Council. Most likely, this was a meeting between Moscow handlers and their European agents of influence to discuss how to step up work promoting Russia’s interests in the European Parliament.
“The program item at the Russian Academy of Sciences is very telling. This is where Fidias Panayiotou was drilled in the ‘Russian traditionalist worldview’ and other important and ‘sensitive’ aspects of Russian state ideology. It was the core of his Moscow program: he was brainwashed and put through an initiation rite.
May 10:
The program has no lunch, which is not in line with the practice and traditions of official visits to Moscow. Panayiotou may have left this item out deliberately to hide additional events or meetings that do not fit the ‘personal’ character of the trip he claimed.
The ballet ‘Shurale,’ a showcase of Tatar (Turkic) ballet and dance, may have mattered to his Moscow handlers in assessing Panayiotou’s personality.
Holding a dinner after a cultural event on May 10 is not in line with the practice and traditions of such visits to Moscow. In Russian protocol practice, such visits usually include lunches.
A one-hour dinner does not match the format of the event: it should be longer or be called something else. In Russian protocol practice, official dinners or receptions for foreign delegations usually last two to three hours and include toasts, speeches and informal discussion. The shortened format may be explained by the earlier departure of all delegation members except Panayiotou.
Panayiotou’s stay on May 11 is probably linked to a special individual program and/or the after-effects of a ‘heavy’ drinking session. European officials who have been to Moscow on official visits say that the meal-related parts of the protocol (except breakfast) are a severe test of stomach and liver. Russians always try to get Western guests drunk at lavish dinners. It is an old KGB tactic for gathering information, obtaining compromising material and establishing control.
The purpose of Fidias Panayiotou’s stay in Moscow until the evening of May 11, 2025, remains a mystery.
A ‘free day’ in Moscow with an evening flight is impossible for a foreign politician, especially on a visit like this. Most likely, it covered secret meetings.”
After returning from Moscow, Fidias Panayiotou noticeably stepped up his efforts to push Kremlin narratives into the European public mind through social media. His videos have always relied on stagecraft. Now the quality of that stagecraft has visibly improved, and the emotional pressure has grown. Performing-arts specialists have confidently identified a clear resemblance to the traditional techniques of the Russian theater school, combined with elements of psychological manipulation. This is hardly surprising, since Russian-speaking specialists work in Fidias Panayiotou’s team.
Fidias Panayiotou is an instrument of the Russian special services’ long-term strategy to destabilize the European Union through ideological influence and manipulation of public opinion via social media. Unless steps are taken to neutralize his destructive work, he could do serious damage to EU security. Whether the EU authorities are prepared to keep tolerating his hostile activity remains an open question.
In conclusion, here is the assessment of an independent Brussels-based center regarding the visit to Russia by Fidias Panayiotou, Member of the European Parliament from the Republic of Cyprus:
“Based on publicly available information and an analysis of media reports, the following reasonable assumptions can be made:
1. Whatever the reasons why Fidias Panayiotou, MEP from the Republic of Cyprus, departed from the agreed program of his stay in Russia, the visit shows signs of an irreversible strengthening of his relations with the ‘brotherly Russian people.’
2. Previously, Fidias Panayiotou, MEP from the Republic of Cyprus, was positioned as an ‘influencer,’ that is, an individual player. At this stage the Russian side probably sees him as a ‘team leader.’
Several circumstances point to this.
An analysis of the videos (a stand-up in the European Parliament building, May 7–8, 2025) that preceded the visit of a group of MEPs to Russia. At first glance the video is rather ordinary and dull, but it shows that Fidias Panayiotou, MEP from the Republic of Cyprus, was taking the first (and possibly further) steps in so-called ‘team building’ among MEPs sympathetic to Russia.
And he achieved quite respectable results.
This was surely appreciated in Moscow and was one of the reasons he stayed on in Russia for additional activities with specialists from the ‘Russian Academy of Sciences,’ the ‘Peace Foundation’ and so on.
3. The office of Fidias Panayiotou, MEP from the Republic of Cyprus, became the source of the documents his fellow travelers used to declare the trip. This is highly unusual and supports the assumption that he is seen as a ‘team leader.’
4. Given the high level of digitalization in the European Parliament, and the fact that MEPs used document templates prepared by the office of Fidias Panayiotou, MEP from the Republic of Cyprus, after the visit to Russia, extra attention should be paid to the information and IT security of this institution.
5. At present, Fidias Panayiotou, MEP from the Republic of Cyprus, can be expected to be active in the following areas:
— continued ‘team building’ in the European Parliament;
— making the most of the institution’s opportunities and of his (current) status as an MEP to cause at least reputational and/or other harm to the European Union by spreading content on social media;
— wider use of the ‘Fidias’ technology (manipulation, targeting, social media, etc.) in countries with upcoming elections. This technology is expected to be used and refined during the parliamentary election campaign in Cyprus on the penultimate weekend of May 2026.
So what should be done?
Instead of sarcasm and irony about the activities and antics of Fidias Panayiotou, MEP from the Republic of Cyprus, what is needed is direct dialogue with him on every media platform.
From the ‘media point’ at the European Parliament to regional Cypriot outlets.
Panayiotou’s conversation with journalist Caolan Robertson showed that this Cypriot MEP is incapable of a proactive, professional discussion, cannot cope with emotional and psychological pressure, and struggles to answer direct questions or to argue his position reasonably.”
Panayiotou’s bond with the “brotherly Russian people” has become unbreakable; that is now a fact. The plain-clothes specialists from the “Russian Academy of Sciences” and the “Peace Foundation,” which is linked to Russian military intelligence, can now use him for their own purposes without restriction. The Cypriot blogger should be careful, though: his “Russian brothers” may decide at any moment that working with him is no longer worthwhile and, over “tea,” deal with him the way they usually deal with agents who have outlived their usefulness. The “Russian brothers” treat recruited agents as expendable and are always ready to sacrifice them for their own ends. It is especially important to avoid tea with State Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoi.
Fidias Panayiotou would do well to learn more about the lives of the champions of the “brotherly Russian world” among Members of the European Parliament, and the best place to start is the fate of Jaromír Kohlíček.
