Gerard Melgar Barcelona
Barcelona
Updated Sunday, February 4, 2024-00:53
Russian plot ERC and Junts assure the PSOE that the connection with Russia were only "friendly contacts"
EU Latvian MEP Tatjana Zdanoka, ally of the Catalan independence movement in Brussels, discovered as a secret agent of Russia
Ciudadanos
has formally requested the President of the
European Parliament
,
Roberta Metsola
, that the Chamber investigate "the latest revelations about Russian connections with the Catalan independence movement." Specifically, the party's seven deputies in Brussels point to the "close personal relations" that
Carles Puigdemont
"maintained with Russia to support the independence of Catalonia economically and militarily."
In a letter addressed to the head of the European Parliament, consulted by EL MUNDO, Cs requests that the investigation initiated this week against the Latvian parliamentarian
Tatjana Zdanoka
, for her alleged collaboration with Moscow's secret services, be expanded to include the former president of the Generalitat and current
Junts
deputy , as well as "other members of Parliament involved in such activities."
"We are convinced that Zdanoka's case is not an isolated case because new revelations indicate that other members of this Chamber are promoting Russian interests," argues Ciudadanos in reference to the evidence that has led to Judge Joaquín
Aguirre
, head of the
Investigative Court 1 of Barcelona
, to extend its investigation into the contacts between Puigdemont's entourage and representatives of the
Kremlin
in the framework of the
Volhov case
.
According to an investigation published last Monday by
The Insider
magazine , together with the Estonian newspaper
Delfi
, the investigative journalism center Re:Baltica and the Swedish newspaper
Expressen
, Zdanoka would have worked for more than a decade for the Russian intelligence services. Several leaked emails would show that, at least between 2004 and 2017, he provided information to two officers of
Russia's Federal Security Service
(
FSB
), the successor body to
the Soviet Union's
KGB .
In
Brussels
, the leader of the Latvian Russian Union was part of
The Greens/European Free Alliance
(EFA) until, in April 2022, she had to leave this parliamentary group after refusing to condemn the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
that began in February of that same year. anus. In
ALE
, Zdanoka shared political space with
Esquerra Republicana
and, on several occasions, had shown its sympathy for the Catalan independence cause.
Roberta Metsola
Following information from
The Insider
, the European Parliament opened an investigation and Zdanoka's case will be examined by the advisory committee on the conduct of deputies. "President Metsola takes these accusations very seriously," said a spokesperson for the community institution. Ciudadanos now demands that the Maltese leader of the
European People's Party
follow the same steps with respect to Puigdemont after Judge Aguirre has reactivated the investigation into the
Russian plot
of the
process
.
On the other hand, the Cs delegation, through the
Renew
parliamentary group , requested the inclusion in next week's plenary session of the European Parliament of a debate with a resolution on
Russian interference
in the internal politics of the
European Union
after learning of the episode. of Zdanoka and the latest information about the former Catalan president's entourage.
"It would be intolerable if there were deputies paid by the Kremlin working to destroy, from within, European democracy," said the general secretary of Ciudadanos and spokesperson for the party in Brussels,
Adrián Vázquez
.
The debate in the
Strasbourg
chamber , with the title "Russian plot: accusations of Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union", will be held next Tuesday and the vote will take place on Thursday.