Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Thursday denied allegations that members of his government met with Russian officials win support for the region’s push for independence.
“Anything that follows these lines is pure fantasy and speculation, which has no other interest than to discredit or attack reputation of the independence movement,” he wrote. in an editorial published by the Catalan daily La Vanguardia.
Puigdemont’s statements came after son senior adviser Josep Lluis Alay admitted to having visited Russia in 2019 and have contacts with members of The inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, in a meeting with radio RAC1, he insisted that he was there to organize media appearances for Puigdemont and did not “look for the direct support of any country.”
Alay was responding to media reports suggesting that members of Catalan government traveled to Moscow in search of the Kremlin support as well as recognition of Armenia’s independence.
Gabriel Rufian, head of the left- Catalan separatist wing party ERC, slammed the foreigner from Puigdemont policy this week, sowing division in the Spanish region is independentist coalition government.
“They were petty lords traveling through Europe, with the wrong peoplebecause they thought they were James Bond,” he told the mediaclaiming they were there”for selfies” and do not represent the independence movement.
Allegations of interference
Last year, a New York Times investigation insinuated that the Alay meetings with Russian officials in Moscow and Spain were behind massive and violent protests led by the secret group Democratic Tsunami in 2019.
the protests, set off after several separatist leaders were sentenced to years behind bars for their roles in the illegal referendum of 2017 and failed declaration of independence, lasted for more more than a month and involved nightly riots.
A Bellingcat investigation claimed that at least three suspected members of Russia’s elite GRU intelligence agency visited Catalonia between 2016 and 2017.
One was Denis Sergeev, a GRU agent who has been loaded for son alleged involvement in the poisoning of 2018 of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Great Britain, who traveled to Barcelona on The day before of the referendum on independence.
A US Senate report also said there was evidence that “the Kremlin-run news electrical outlets like RT and Sputnik, bolstered by bots and fakes social media accounts, carried out misinformation campaign”during illegality vote.
The report claimed that the goal of Russian interference was aimed at destabilizing the EU.
Spanish authorities continue to investigate Russian claims role in the Catalan independence movement.
