Who is Karen Malayan: Russia’s top diplomat in Brussels, or yet another spy?
Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the EU had a strange career path, a spy-linked uncle, spy friends, and allegedly played a role in pre-Brexit dirty tricks in the UK.
Investigations
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Exclusive: Frontex returned almost 50 people to Afghanistan this year with help from NGO fronted by UK security veterans
The little-known Irara NGO was the largest non-state recipient of Frontex funding last year, receiving some €39m in 2025. The NGO is headed by UK security veterans and operates in 36 countries, including Afghanistan.
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EU-banned facial-recognition cameras made in Spain now watch millions of Indians
From Delhi to Jaipur, India is rolling out facial-recognition technology to monitor millions of its citizens. Investigate Europe has found that behind much of the software is Spanish company Herta Security – but critics argue the government promise of public safety is not the main aim.
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Exclusive: Germany bankrolled Tesla buyers with €860m to help hit EU Covid recovery targets – and now gives €71m to Musk’s Berlin gigafactory too
Between 2020 and 2023, Germany spent €860m subsidising the purchase of Teslas — a scheme that helped unlock Berlin’s share of the EU’s Covid recovery fund, according to internal documents obtained by EUobserver. Now, Elon Musk’s Berlin gigafactory is also receiving more than €71m in state aid.
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Top EU judges’ financial holdings raise troubling questions
As Luxembourg’s elite judges at the Court of Justice of the European Union quietly juggle share portfolios and politically-sensitive cases, critics warn their ties (often undisclosed) to Big Pharma, banks and Big Tech raise concerns over possible conflicts of interest and transparency.
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Israel has bombed and bulldozed €150m of EU-funded buildings in Gaza and West Bank – but never paid back a cent
Israel has damaged at least €150m of European taxpayer-funded structures in Gaza and the West Bank, but not paid back one euro, according to an EUobserver investigation compiling data from the EU and third-party aid groups, amid Brussels’ wall of silence.
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Leaked memo: EU has known since 2017 it had legal right to freeze Israel trade deal
A “strictly confidential”, but leaked, EU legal memo from 2017 said Europe was entitled to freeze Israel science grants and free-trade perks over its West Bank aggression. “What was then a legitimate option, today is a legal obligation,” an Italian expert said.
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Orbán oligarchs are moving assets abroad, as Magyar readies new anti-corruption measures
Following the Hungarian election, hyper-wealthy circles around outgoing prime minister Viktor Orbán are moving assets out of the country, to places such as Dubai, the US and Uruguay.
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Sex trafficking tour of Prague: How Epstein’s fixer Brunel hunted for victims at Prague modelling contests
Released Jeffrey Epstein files expose how associate Jean-Luc Brunel used Czech and Slovak modelling agencies to recruit and traffic underage girls. Brunel leveraged his industry prestige to lure victims into Epstein’s network, often using professional contracts as legal cover. He ultimately died by suicide in a Paris prison in 2022.
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How Big Tech wrote secrecy into EU law to hide data centres’ environmental toll
Microsoft and DigitalEurope, a lobby group whose members include Amazon, Google and Meta, secured a secrecy provision in EU law to block public access to critical information on data centres’ environmental impact, Investigate Europe can reveal.
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Pitchfork politics and sausage-making: how the farmers ‘crisis’ rewrote EU green rules behind closed doors
Legal experts call it undemocratic; the official watchdog calls it a failure of integrity. After a wave of farm protests rocked the continent, Brussels gutted its green protections at record speed, leaving a permanent scar on European law. This investigation goes inside the closed-door meetings and exclusive interviews to reveal who really sat at the table to rewrite the rules of Europe’s most expensive policy.
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EU-made facial recognition ended up scanning schoolchildren in Brazil
The EU restricts biometric surveillance at home – but its landmark AI Act does nothing to prevent European companies from exporting the same technology abroad.
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How the EU lets plastic be labelled ‘recycled’ at just 2.5% re-used content
Plastic products in the EU could soon be labelled “recycled” — even when they contain barely any recycled material. A new definition backed by most member states allows plastics with as little as 2.5 percent waste-derived content. Critics warn that the rule relies on accounting tricks that may mask fossil-based plastic production.
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Inside the mining lobby attack on key EU water law
The EU’s key water law is under pressure amid intensified lobbying by the mining industry. DeSmog analysis shows sector meetings with EU officials tripled in the year before the European Commission pledged to “review and revise” the Water Framework Directive.
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The secret European Commission group driving EU deportations
First launched in late 2022, the so-called High Level Network for Returns (HLNR) used the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel as a justification to enforce the exchange of data of individuals with a deportation order and flagged as “potential terrorists”.
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How the Kremlin turns schoolchildren into future soldiers in occupied Ukraine
When Russian forces occupy a Ukrainian town, schools are often targeted first. An investigation into hundreds of Telegram posts from Russian propaganda channels operating in occupied Ukraine since 2022 reveals a systematic campaign to militarise and indoctrinate children through schools.
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Behind the scam: how an alleged criminal network set a trap for thousands of Europeans to fall for ‘fake’ investments and raked in millions
A suspected scam network operating out of Serbia duped an estimated 70,000 people worldwide into making bogus investments, profiting €250m in the process. The transnational scheme involved a former Premier League team sponsor and a convicted money launderer, Investigate Europe and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network can reveal, in the first part of our Scam Europe series.
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Smart Fortress Europe: How Greece uses tech to crack down on migration
With EU funding, Greece is ramping up its use of drones and AI to monitor migration. A cross-border investigation by Solomon, Tagesspiegel, Inkstick, El País and Wochenzeitung reveals how far the surveillance system stretches.
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Rear Window: How a UK firm spied on target in the EU capital
Belgium has drawn a thin red line against illicit surveillance in the EU capital, in a trial that exposed the “creepy” modus operandi of a British private-eye firm.
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EU’s Just Transition Fund excludes local bodies and puts workers at risk
Local entities such as trade unions and municipalities express concern over inadequate consultation under the JTF, thereby threatening workers’ futures.
