“Carlos Moedas wouldn’t be in the Lisbon City Council without Russiagate,” activist tells JE

The year was 2021, and in June, the controversy surrounding the “Russiagate” case came to light, where personal data of protesters was shared by the Lisbon City Council (CML) with the Russian embassy in Portugal and other foreign entities.

Russiagate concerns the complaint filed in 2021 with the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD) regarding the communication by the Lisbon City Council, when it was chaired by Fernando Medina, to the Russian embassy in Lisbon, and also to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, of data on participants in a demonstration against the Russian regime.

Now, the Lisbon city council has lost another appeal and risks paying a €738,000 fine to the National Data Protection Commission. In an interview with Jornal Económico (JE), activist Ksenia Ashrafullina, whose name appeared on the improperly transmitted data, recalled the moment she received the email from Lisbon City Council by mistake and expressed her conviction that if this incident had not occurred, the current mayor of Lisbon would never have reached the position he currently holds.

Ksenia Ashrafullina recalled that, due to an oversight by the Lisbon City Council, she discovered "that the email containing the activists' data had been shared with the Russian Foreign Ministry and the embassy." "At first, I was angry at this lack of competence on the part of the Lisbon City Council, because they were supposed to protect the protesters and did the opposite," she emphasized.

He also recalled that journalists contacted him “three months before the [local] elections” and then “the case exploded”, which, in Ksenia Ashrafullina’s view, “was very useful for the PSD at the time, particularly for Carlos Moedas”.

"Carlos Moedas wouldn't be in Lisbon City Hall without Russiagate. The PSD, during the campaign, seized the case and did everything they could. Russiagate was a key factor in Medina's ouster," the activist asserted.

It should be remembered that, after it was reported that Lisbon City Council had lost its appeal, Carlos Moedas guaranteed that Lisbon City Council will appeal “to the limit” in the Russiagate case.

For Ksenia Ashrafullina, "Moedas should accept the previous mayor's mistake" and that "if we want a state of justice, then the mistake was made and the commission should keep the fine, instead of whining."

The activist also said that when she filed a complaint, "it wasn't with the intention of receiving compensation." "We wanted something to change and for the right to protest to be protected, and I don't think that happened. It felt like everything stayed the same, but now they're more careful not to forward emails to the wrong people."

Association warns against sharing data on pro-Palestine protesters

Although no further data-sharing issues have been reported at Lisbon City Hall, activist and member of the Free Russians Association, Timofei Bugaevskii, warned JE that "on July 31, 2025, a similar situation occurred in Faro."

The following day, it was reported that the municipality shared the personal data of the organizers of a pro-Palestine demonstration in Faro with more than thirty entities. The mayor of Faro expressed regret for the inadvertent sharing of the personal data of the demonstration organizers.

“Therefore, drawing attention to the issue of activists' safety, including through civilized forms of defending rights in court, seems important even four years after the revelation of more than 50 cases of transfer of protesters' data to the embassies of Russia, Venezuela, China and other countries in 2018-2021.”

Timofei Bugaevskii also stressed that "we left our countries largely for security reasons, and that cases like this, in addition to the risks that protesters take on the streets or on social media, expose us to additional threats."

"It would be helpful to have effective protection mechanisms for those who take risks and oppose regimes that, to a large extent, threaten the entire world, such as those in Russia, Belarus, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba, as well as for their family members who, for various reasons, remain under the control of these regimes," he stressed.

"We would like people to feel like they have somewhere to turn in case of danger. Unfortunately, in several countries, deportations to their home countries continue, citing the excuse that 'there's nothing threatening there,' and detaining people for long periods. In our opinion, this is more important than money," he emphasized.

Russiagate: Alexandra Leitão criticizes Carlos Moedas

In a brief statement to JE, the candidate for the CML leadership for the PS, Alexandra Leitão recalled that: “in 2021, as the supervising minister, I asked the PGR Advisory Council for an opinion on this matter, which I then approved, thus contributing to clarifying the applicable legal regime”.

Alexandra Leitão also said that "unlike the current mayor of Lisbon—as seen recently in the case of the municipal police's powers—I work based on current regulations and to ensure the protection of people and institutions. I don't make decisions without them being thoroughly researched and sound."

New conviction

The Lisbon City Council, headed by Carlos Moedas, has been convicted again in the 'Russiagate' scandal, citing the sending of personal data of anti-Putin activists to Russian entities, the newspaper " Diário de Notícias " (DN) reported on August 6. The court's decision could result in the municipality being fined €738,000.

According to DN, the Southern Central Administrative Court ruled on Friday that the Lisbon municipality's appeal was "completely unfounded." This is the Lisbon City Council's second defeat in a case that led to the imposition of a €1.25 million fine by the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD).

“DN” highlights that the amount was reduced to 738 thousand euros due to the statute of limitations on several illegal acts committed by Lisbon City Council, an amount that could still be reduced if the process continues.