Soil samples from the main sugar beet growing areas of Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Swiss, United Kingdom and United States were investigated for the presence of the most important known sugar beet viruses transmitted by Polymyxa betae Keskin. Characterization and detection of Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), Beet soil borne virus (BSBV), Beet virus Q (BVQ) and Beet soil borne mosaic virus (BSBMV) were obtained using a molecular protocol based on a multiplex RT- PCR reaction. Our results confirm that the A type of BNYVV occurs very widely in Europe, the United States and Asia and that the B type occurs most frequently in Northern Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Lithuania, Netherlands and UK. Coat protein and 25 protein nucleotide and amino acids sequences analyses of new BNYVV Lithuanian isolates confirm that the B type genome is highly conserved. BSBV was successfully detected on several different accessions from Europe and just once in USA soils, always in mixed infection with BNYVV. BVQ, in association with BNYVV and BSBV, was detected in samples from Belgium, Croatia, France, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Spain and Hungary. Only soil samples from USA (Minesota, Texas and Colorado) were found to be infected by BSBMV.