MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2023) Officials in the United States and the European Union believe the mailing of letters containing explosives in Spain in 2022 could have been masterminded by the Russian military intelligence, an allegation denied by Moscow, The New York Times reported, citing sources.
The US and the EU believe that Russian military intelligence officials directed operatives from a Russian-based pro-white supremacy militant group to carry out the campaign in Spain where bomb letters were mailed to top-level Spanish officials, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles, and foreign embassies, according to the report published on Sunday.
US intelligence agencies suspect the nationalist organization Russian Imperial Movement, whose members and associates are believed to be located throughout Europe, of sending the bomb letters, the report said.
The group's vital members were in Spain, and police traced their links to radical right-wing Spanish organizations, while the perpetrators were allegedly backed by Russian officers working for the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), according to the report.
According to US officials, the bombing operation could be a signal that Russia and forces under its control may conduct more campaigns of the kind in Europe if Western countries continue to support Ukraine, the newspaper reported.
A total of six letters with explosive devices or substances inside were reportedly sent to Sanchez, Robles, as well as the embassies of the US, Ukraine and other countries in Madrid in November and December 2022. The letter bombs did not cause fatal harms but injured an employee of the Ukrainian embassy.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on the territories of other countries, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying there were no facts to back the allegations.
