At the end of last year a letter bomb campaign in Spain hit several offices:
In late November and early December 2022, a number of letter bombs were mailed to locations across Spain. Packages were received at high-profile individuals and locations, including the Prime Minister of Spain’s Moncloa residence, the Ukrainian and U.S. embassies in Madrid, Torrejon Air Base, and the arms manufacturer Instalaza. One person has been injured in the attacks—a security officer at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid.
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Spain’s High Court was reported to have opened an investigation for a possible case of terrorism.In December 2022, Spanish authorities disclosed they believed the letters were postmarked from the city of Valladolid.
Spain has so far not concluded which person or group might have sent the letters and what the possible motives behind the campaign were.
That does not seem to matter for the some ‘U.S. officials’ which try to pin the case to Russia. The story is a continuation of their fraudulent ‘Russiagate’ fairytales.
The stenographers at the New York Times thus headline:
Russian Agents Suspected of Directing Far-Right Group to Mail Bombs in Spain
U.S. officials say the operation may be a signal by Russia that the country and its proxies could carry out more terrorist actions in Europe if nations continue supporting Ukraine.
On might expect some evidence when such wide reaching claims are made. But alas, none is provided.
The quite long story is based on the following sources:
U.S. officials say …
American and European officials believe … according to U.S. officials.
Investigators … have focused on … the officials said.
U.S. officials say … Russian officers who directed the campaign appeared intent …
The apparent aim … said the U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivities around the investigation.
There are no signs that Moscow is ready to engage in widespread covert attacks or sabotage .. , which Russian officials believe could provoke a response, … according to U.S. and allied officials.
Mr. Putin’s calculus … U.S. officials say.
Putin has given his military intelligence agency wide latitude … they say.
The Russian officers behind the bombing campaign work for … U.S. officials say.
Members of the agency have been involved in … according to U.S. officials.
U.S. officials suspect … U.S. officials say.
Spanish investigators have identified “persons of interest” … one senior U.S. official said.
A spokeswoman for the Spanish Embassy in Washington declined to comment, citing the continuing inquiry.
Fiona Hill … said it would not be surprising if …
American and British intelligence officials have been working with the Spanish national police and counterintelligence officials … Their suspicions about the Russian Imperial Movement … coalesced late last year … officials say.
The radical group is only partially aligned with the Russian government. The movement’s leadership has criticized the incompetence of Russian leadership in the Ukraine war and accused Mr. Putin of corruption. Yet because the group shares Moscow’s aims of undermining … Russian intelligence has been able to influence its operations, according to American officials.
The State Department designated the group … in April 2020 …
… the department said in the announcement of the designation.
The Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University describes the Russian Imperial Movement as … The group advocates the restoration of czarist rule to Russia, it said, and nurtures ties with neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in the United States and Europe.
American and European security officials have had growing concerns about white supremacist groups with transnational links for most of the last decade. In 2019, for example, an Australian man who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, …
As a result of the recent letter bombs, … U.S. officials said.
In 2018, they tried to kill Sergei V. Skripal, …. Russian agents have also carried out … according to European intelligence officials.
The same elite group active in Europe, Unit 29155, has operated in Afghanistan and offered bounties to reward Taliban-linked militants for killing American and coalition troops, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment first reported by The New York Times. American officials said in 2021 that they had no evidence showing the Kremlin had ordered the covert action.
According to what U.S. officials claim some anti-Kremlin fringe group in Russia was used by a Russian intelligence service to somehow send letter bombs from Valladolid, Spain, to some offices in Madrid.
But why would Russian intelligence run such a nonsense campaign? Why would it use a problematic fringe group of Russian crazies to do so. Why in Spain? Why not in Poland, Germany or France? What is the evidence?
None of those questions get answered. Instead rumors and hot air assumptions are put together to make the claims somewhat less outrageous. This is on the same level as the lies about ‘weapons of mass destruction in Iraq’ the Times printed 20 years ago.
The addition of the implausible Skripal poisoning story and the false claims of ‘Russian bounties’ in Afghanistan does not help to make the story more convincing. There is no evidence that either happened at all.
What is somewhat funny is the writers’ attempt to put the Russian imperialist fringe group into the vicinity of the Christchurch mass murder in New Zealand. The killer had been friend with Ukrainian Nazi terrorists:
In the wake of the New Zealand mosque attacks, links have emerged between the shooter and a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist, white supremacist paramilitary organisation called the Azov Battalion. The shooter’s manifesto alleges that he visited the country during his many travels abroad, and the flak jacket he wore during the assault featured a symbol commonly used by the Azov Battalion.
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The Azov Battalion is emerging as a critical node in the transnational right-wing violent extremist (RWE) network. This group maintains its own “Western Outreach Office” to help recruit and attract foreign fighters that travel to train and connect with people from like-minded violent organisations from across the globe.
We know that ‘U.S. intelligence’ is bullshit and that U.S. official are liars, especially with regards to anything around Ukraine.
We know that because ‘U.S. officials’ said so:
That makes the publishing of the above story by the Times even more egregious.