https://www.politico.eu/article/fernando-medina-lisbon-russia-dissidents-personal-data-sharing/ Sunday, June 13, 2021 * Editions + EU Edition + U.K. Edition + U.S. Edition * POLITICO Live + About POLITICO Live + Upcoming Events * More Info + About Us + Advertising + Content Studio + Press + Print Edition + Contact Us + Jobs + Careers at POLITICO Primary Menu Politico Pro Register Sign In Search for: [ ] Submit Politico Pro * Explore * Subscribe and more * Featured Sections + Brussels + France + Germany + Britain + Migration + Elections in Europe + Defense + Foreign Policy + Poll of Polls + Continent + EU-China + EU Recovery Plan + Special Reports * Policy Areas + Agriculture and Food + Brexit Transition + Competition and Industrial Policy + Cybersecurity and Data Protection + Energy and Climate + Financial Services + Health Care + Mobility + Sustainability + Technology + Trade + Trade UK * Featured Series + Telescope: AIDS + EU in Africa + Global Policy Lab + Changemakers + The wonk's survival guide to the EU Green Deal * Columns + The Coming Wars + Europe At Large + World View + Beyond The Bubble + Declassified POLITICO Live * See all future events * June 15 -- EU farming and methane, what is the road to sustainability? * June 22 -- Fasten your seatbelts: the race to greener cars * June 29-30 -- POLITICO's 2021 Competitive Europe Summit * June 29 -- POLITICO Telescope: The New AIDS Epidemic - 95-95-95: beyond business as usual * July 5 -- Farming in a climate neutral Europe Editions * EU Edition * U.K. Edition * U.S. Edition Publications * Print Edition * Newsletters + Brussels Playbook What's driving the day in Brussels + London Playbook What's driving the day in Westminster + EU Influence Campaigning, lobbying and political influence in the EU + London Influence Campaigning, lobbying and political influence in the U.K. + Playbook Paris What's driving the day in Paris, en francais + Sunday Crunch The weekly digest of the best stories in U.K. politics + AI Decoded + Digital Bridge + China Direct + EU Confidential + Coronavirus Daily Update + EU In Africa * Podcasts + EU Confidential + Westminster Insider + Campaign Confidential * our apps + Play Store + App Store * Social Links + Facebook + Twitter + LinkedIn Discover POLITICO Pro In-depth reporting, data and actionable intelligence for policy professionals - all in one place. Five reasons to go Pro Areas of coverage Expert journalists Customers Contact us Hot Topics * After Corona * German election * EU-China * Brussels Playbook * London Playbook * Playbook Paris Lisbon admits sharing Russian dissidents' personal data with Moscow Portuguese MEPs have called for an urgent debate on the matter in the European Parliament. 2019 Web Summit Mayor of Lisbon Fernando Medina | Miguel A. Lopez/EFE via EPA By Aitor Hernandez-Morales June 10, 2021 5:59 pm * Share on Facebook * Share on Twitter * Share on Linkedin * Mail * Print Lisbon Mayor Fernando Medina is facing calls for his resignation as a result of his government's decision to share the personal information of at least three Lisbon-based Russian dissidents with Russian authorities. Municipal authorities obtained the personal data when the dissidents applied to hold a rally to protest the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in January. City ordinances require protest organizers to submit their names, identification numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers so that Portugal's Public Security Police (PSP) can contact them if anything goes wrong during the event. Protest organizer Ksenia Ashrafullina, a 36-year-old Russian-Portuguese dual citizen, told POLITICO that when she reviewed her email exchanges with city hall she found evidence that municipal employees had forwarded the data to both the Russian embassy in Lisbon and Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow. "We gave city hall all of our information because the protest was being held in the midst of the COVID crisis, and we wanted to be sure that we were complying with all of the sanitary rules that were in place," Ashrafullina said. "They accidentally forwarded me the email they had sent to the Russian authorities, which included a PDF file with our data transcribed." She said that her demands for an explanation were initially ignored by Lisbon's authorities, and that city hall only replied when she lodged a formal complaint. Although municipal employees admitted that they had forwarded the sensitive information, Ashrafullina said that they attempted to blame her for disclosing the data in the first place. "That made no sense, of course: I had to submit my personal information in order to be granted permission to hold the public protest," she said. Municipal authorities later sent Ashrafullina a copy of a message in which Lisbon's city hall requested that the Russian embassy and foreign ministry delete the sensitive information. The dissident, who has lived in Portugal for eight years, said that the disclosure had left her exposed to retribution from Moscow, where on Wednesday a Russian court banned Navalny's opposition movement and declared his supporters to be "extremists." "When you're dealing with Russia, you're dealing with a terrorist state that intimidates the population by picking out people and targeting them," she said. "I thought that if I couldn't change things in Russia, I'd at least be safe in Portugal, but instead city hall has just given me away to them." "Is it corruption, is it espionage, or is this just stupidity?" Ashrafullina asked. "If it's incompetence, it's especially cruel incompetence." Firestorm ahead of the municipal elections News of the breach, first reported by Portuguese weekly Expresso on Wednesday night, unleashed a torrent of criticism against Lisbon Mayor Medina, who is up for reelection in October and who is widely considered to be a potential successor to Prime Minister Antonio Costa, his predecessor in the mayoralty. City hall first sought to address the issue on Thursday morning with a terse statement in which it acknowledged that Ashrafullina and other dissidents' personal information had been shared with Russian authorities, but "vehemently rejected any accusations and insinuations of complicity with the Russian regime." Authorities defended their decision to share the data, arguing that it was compliant with existing municipal protocol and Portuguese law, but accepted that existing procedures "had not proved adequate in this context," and said that a review of the actions taken were now underway. Later Thursday, Medina told reporters that he was sorry for the "bureaucratic error" and expressed solidarity with the dissidents' stance against Russia's repressive practices. The apology did little to temper criticism from Carlos Moedas, a former European commissioner for research, science and innovation who is running as a conservative candidate in the mayoral elections. Moedas said that the situation required Medina's resignation. "This situation is unacceptable," Moedas said in a telephone interview, stressing that the matter was "especially grave" because two of the dissidents held Portuguese nationality, which meant the municipal authorities had furnished information about citizens to a foreign power. "City hall put these people in mortal danger, and it has admitted that it has done this before, sharing the personal data of protesters with other repressive regimes," he said. "There have to be political consequences: Medina has to resign." In Brussels, six Portuguese European People's Party MEPs sent a written question to European Council President Charles Michel and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in which they asked if Lisbon's municipal government had acted "in line with European values and diplomatic practices towards Russia," and if the delivery of the personal data jeopardized "the security of these citizens and their respective families." Dutch MEP Jeroen Lenaers, the EPP coordinator in the Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, also requested an urgent debate on what he deemed a "clear violation of the European data protection law." Ashrafullina said she was pleased by the political reaction in Lisbon and Brussels, but surprised that it was coming in June instead of in January. "I told Portuguese journalists about this in January but nobody wanted to report on it," she said. "I get that with the elections coming up, we're part of a bigger political game now. .. If that helps to make Portugal a more democratic country, I guess that's fine." Lili Bayer and Paul Ames contributed reporting. More from ... Aitor Hernandez-Morales Most Read Articles * 1 Trudeau raises Northern Ireland Brexit row in G7 meeting with Johnson June 11, 2021 8:44 pm * 2 5 fights to watch out for at the G7 summit June 11, 2021 4:37 pm * 3 Lisbon admits sharing Russian dissidents' personal data with Moscow June 10, 2021 5:59 pm * 4 Boris Johnson gets an EU earful on Northern Ireland June 12, 2021 3:21 pm * 5 Rain, rivalries and renewal as G7 meet in England June 11, 2021 12:47 am Related Event POLITICO'S SPOTLIGHT "Can the US and Europe find common ground on regulating big tech?" at the Advanced Leadership Foundation's Future of Politics Summit Register Now Learn more Related Content * UK trade department data breach sheds light on secretive FOI unit The data revealed that the department does not apply 'applicant-blind' vetting of Freedom of Information Act requests. * Lisbon has shared dissident info with repressive regimes for years Municipal authorities forwarded the names and addresses of activists to the Chinese, Venezuelan and Angolan embassies. * Ireland's largest parties admit to using fake pollsters to quiz voters All say the practice has been discontinued. * Meet Wu Dao 2.0, the Chinese AI model making the West sweat Europe is increasingly worried it's being left out of the global race for artificial intelligence. Next up UK trade department data breach sheds light on secretive FOI unit UK trade department data breach sheds light on secretive FOI unit June 12, 2021 6:00 am By Graham Lanktree Lisbon has shared dissident info with repressive regimes for years Lisbon has shared dissident info with repressive regimes for years June 11, 2021 5:55 pm By Aitor Hernandez-Morales Ireland's largest parties admit to using fake pollsters to quiz voters Ireland's largest parties admit to using fake pollsters to quiz voters June 10, 2021 12:06 pm By Marina Adami Meet Wu Dao 2.0, the Chinese AI model making the West sweat Meet Wu Dao 2.0, the Chinese AI model making the West sweat June 9, 2021 6:29 pm By Melissa Heikkila Related Tags Data Data / privacy Data breaches Data protection Portuguese Politics Privacy Related Countries Portugal Russia Related People Alexei Navalny Antonio Costa Carlos Moedas Related Organizations Socialist Party (Portugal) Explore politico EU * Brussels Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICO's editors and guest writers in Europe. * Germany Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICO's editors and guest writers on German politics. * France Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICO's editors and guest writers on French politics. * Elections in Europe Latest news, analysis and comment on elections in Europe and beyond. * Migration Latest news, analysis and comment on migration in Europe and beyond. * Defense Latest news, analysis and comment on defense in Europe and beyond. * Security Latest news, analysis and comment on security in Europe and beyond. * Continent Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICO's editors and guest writers on the continent. * Policy Areas + Agriculture and Food + Brexit Transition + Competition and Industrial Policy + Cybersecurity and Data Protection + Health Care + Energy and Climate + Financial Services + Mobility + Sustainability + Technology + Trade + Trade UK * Newsletters + Brussels Playbook + London Playbook + Playbook Paris + London Influence + EU Influence + Sunday Crunch + AI Decoded + Digital Bridge + EU Confidential + China Direct + Davos Playbook + Coronavirus Daily Update + EU In Africa Explore Products * Series + Telescope: AIDS + EU in Africa + Global Policy Lab + Changemakers + The wonk's survival guide to the EU Green Deal * Columns + The Coming Wars + Declassified + Europe At Large + World View + Beyond The Bubble * Podcasts + EU Confidential + Westminster Insider + Campaign Confidential * our apps + Play Store + App Store + Print Edition * POLITICO Live Explore the live extension of our journalism * Discover POLITICO Pro In-depth reporting, data and actionable intelligence for policy professionals - all in one place. Politico Logo * About us * Contact us * Privacy Policy * Cookie Policy * Advertising * Press * Print Edition * Jobs * Careers at POLITICO * Ts&Cs * FAQs Close login modal Log in Log in to access content and manage your profile. If you do not have a login you can register here. Log-in [ ] Password [ ] Forgot your password? Click here. [ ] Remember me Log in By logging in, you confirm acceptance of our POLITICO Privacy Policy. * Privacy