Spanish intelligence said that Russia interfered in the crisis in Catalonia
MADRID, may 22 — RIA Novosti. The Spanish national Cryptologic centre, report to the National intelligence center, claims that “Russian institutes” tried to influence the situation in Catalonia during the political crisis last year, where on 1 October was held an illegal referendum on independence.
“It seems the presence of activists, supported by the Russian institutions, in the media coverage of the conflict in consequence of the situation in Catalonia throughout the 2017 year as a result of evasion of the constitutional legality of certain of the Catalan Autonomous institutions”, — stated in the report Center “On cyber threats and trends”. Specific evidence is not provided.
The authors of the document believe that Spain along with other countries became a victim of “cyber warfare”. “In most cases, the victims were democratic institutions or political parties of many countries, including Spain,” the document says. In this case, write the authors of the document, these attempts to “influence public opinion” “in many cases supported by the States.”
“It has become clear that… the publication of information or the intoxication of the media or social networking massively and deliberately used by governments to destabilize other States and to polarize the civilian population”, — the document says.
The Spanish authorities have repeatedly stated that information aimed at supporting the independence of Catalonia in the midst of crisis, spread in social networks from the territories of Russia and Venezuela. However, they stressed that they do not have evidence of the involvement of the authorities in these countries.
In addition, the Spanish media, particularly the newspaper El País, published materials in which the accused RT and Sputnik Agency in biased coverage of the crisis in Catalonia and the use of certain “accounts in social networks to spread a negative image of Spain.”