MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) Russian Ambassador to Spain Yuri Korchagin on Thursday criticized an article published by Spanish newspaper El Pais that claimed the Spanish authorities had allegedly refused Russia's proposals for joint consultations on cybersecurity, and added that this article and several similar ones on Russia could have be the reason this meeting was suggested in the first place.
Earlier in the day, El Pais published three stories on the alleged malign influence of Russia in Catalonia but gave no concrete evidence of this interference. According to one article, Madrid does not want to cooperate with Russia on the fight against disinformation.
"My reaction is outrage. I am not surprised that there are forces seeking to undermine positively developing friendly relations between Russia and Spain. I am surprised that a respectable newspaper panders to these forces and actually cooperates with them, spreading insinuation and fake news," Korchagin said at a press conference.
He speculated that the newspaper's willingness to cooperate with these forces was the reason these articles were published.
"They wrote about some 'poisoned proposal' by Russia to establish a group on cybersecurity. But in 2017, the topic emerged because El Pais newspaper was publishing fake news on alleged Russian meddling in the Catalan process. Therefore, there was a proposal to convene cybersecurity experts," the ambassador stated.
El Pais has published a number of articles on alleged Russian interference, often presenting it as fact, since Catalonia held its independence referendum in October 2017. However, Moscow has repeatedly refuted allegations of its meddling in other countries' internal affairs, pointing to the lack of proof. In 2018, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Spanish counterpart, Josep Borrell, agreed to launch joint consultations on cybersecurity. The parties decided to set up a group with the aim to prevent misinformation from damaging bilateral relations.
