Is Russia behind it?
74-year-old arrested after series of letter bombs
1/25/2023 5:36 p.m
Spain is among Ukraine’s supporters in defending against Russian war of aggression. In November letter bombs were sent to the Spanish prime minister and the Ukrainian embassy – now there is an arrest in the case. Secret services have an explosive suspicion.
After a series of letter bombs sent to the Ukrainian embassy in Spain and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, among others, the suspected sender has been arrested. According to the interior ministry in Madrid, the police caught the “suspected author of six letters with explosives” in Miranda de Ebro in the north of the country.
According to a police source, the suspect is “a 74-year-old pensioner.” No one was killed by the letter bombs. On November 30, 2022, an employee of the security service at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was slightly injured in the right hand when opening a letter. Other shipments of explosives were intercepted not only at the Prime Minister’s but also at the Defense Ministry, at a Spanish military base and at the Spanish defense company Interleza, which makes grenade launchers for delivery to Ukraine.
After the incident, Kyiv tightened security precautions in all of its representations, and the Spanish judiciary initiated investigations into suspected terrorism. According to information from the “New York Times”, Western secret services suspect that a Russian paramilitary group is behind the series of letter bombs.
Spain has supported Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression. In addition to weapons, Spain recently delivered power generators to Ukraine. The country also announced that it was also ready for a delivery of German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks. “Training in dealing with Leopard tanks” or “help with their maintenance and repair” is also possible, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Spanish television. However, she gave no indication of how many tanks Spain could deliver, nor when.