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Spain set to send troops and warships to aid NATO in Ukraine-Russia conflict

Spain’s Defence Ministry has announced it will deploy two frigates and troops to the Black Sea to assist NATO amid rising tensions and concerns that Russia will invade Ukraine. 

Published: 21 January 2022 10:34 CET
NATO frigate Sps Blas De Lezo of Spain docked in Istanbul in 2015.
NATO frigate Sps Blas De Lezo of Spain docked in Istanbul in 2015. The warship will be sent to the Black Sea in "three or four days". (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP)

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles on Thursday confirmed that in “three or four days” Spain will send its Blas de Lezo military ship to the Black Sea in Bulgarian waters, to join the already dispatched Acción Marítima (BAM) Meteoro frigate which is docked there.

Robles added that Spanish authorities are also offering to send fighter planes to the region to assist NATO in protecting Ukraine from a potential invasion by Russia.

How many more Spanish military troops would be deployed along with Blas de Lezo’s 250 marines is yet to be confirmed, but Spain already has 360 NATO-aligned soldiers in Lithuania and six Eurofigher jets in Romania surveilling the Black Sea.

“Spain has participated in all NATO deployments as a serious ally for a number of years, and in this specific case the deployment of the frigate has been brought forward within the framework of this agreement,” the Spanish Defence Minister said.

“Russia cannot tell any country what it can do, and NATO will defend any country that Russia wants to enter”.

The deployment of Spanish military troops to the region is causing further divisions in Spain’s coalition government, with members of far-left party Unidas Podemos criticising Spain’s involvement in the growing conflict and calling it a “grave error” and “strategically clumsy” as it will “increase the price of gas, fuel and cause inflation to rise”. 

Former Unidas Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias warned Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists that “pro-US furore cost (ex-PP Spanish Prime Minister) Aznar his job”, in reference to Spain’s involvement in the Iraq War, and “it would be very clumsy for the socialist part of the Spanish government to go against its partners and form the ‘war party with the PP”. 

Washington and Moscow’s top diplomats meet on Friday in Geneva in a last-ditch bid for a solution over Ukraine, with the United States increasingly fearing that Russia will invade despite warnings of severe reprisals.

President Joe Biden bluntly assessed on Wednesday that his counterpart Vladimir Putin is likely to “move in” on Ukraine and warned of a “disaster for Russia”.

The United States and its allies have warned of severe economic sanctions for an invasion.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Biden’s remarks were destabilising and could “inspire some hotheads in Ukraine with false hopes”.

Russia, which already fuels a deadly insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014, has demanded guarantees that NATO never accept the former Soviet republic or expand otherwise in Moscow’s old sphere.

The United States has declared the idea a “non-starter” and accused Russia of undermining Europe’s post-Cold War order by bullying another country into submission.

Even while rejecting the core Russian demands, the Biden administration has said it is willing to speak to Moscow about its security concerns.

One proposal by the United States is to revive restrictions on missiles in Europe that had been set by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a Cold War deal trashed by former president Donald Trump’s administration as it accused Moscow of violations.

The Biden administration has also offered more transparency on military exercises. Russia has not rejected the proposals but says that its core concern is Ukraine and on Thursday, announced massive naval drills in the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and Mediterranean as a show of force.

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POLITICS

Why separatist Bildu spells hope for Basque youth as Spanish region votes

"For us Basques, ETA's terrorism is in the past," says social worker Elena García, who says she's going to vote for the left-wing separatist EH Bildu in Sunday's election in Spain's Basque Country.

Published: 18 April 2024 09:21 CEST
Why separatist Bildu spells hope for Basque youth as Spanish region votes

As the wealthy northern region of 2.2 million residents heads into a tightly-contested vote for its regional parliament, polls suggest Bildu will win, inching ahead of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) that has ruled for decades.

A faction which partly emerged from the political wing of the now-defunct Basque armed separatist group ETA, Bildu “used to be associated with a nationalist party with a terrorist past but it’s moved away from that,” said García.

“Now it’s the party doing the most for social issues and defending Basque interests.”

Although she’s 40, her words reflect a stance common among young Basque voters for whom decades of dark separatist violence has little bearing on their electoral choices.

A coalition of several parties, most of which opposed violence, Bildu has worked to disassociate itself from ETA whose bloody struggle for an independent Basque homeland claimed 850 lives before it rejected violence in 2011.

And with a focus on housing, the environment and others issues, it has won a strong following among younger voters between 18 and 44, surveys show.

Although former ETA member Arnaldo Otegi, 65, remains its leader and most public face, Bildu recently named 40-year-old Pello Otxandiano as candidate for regional leader.

Over the years, observers say it has successfully highlighted problems facing Basque society that have increasingly taken centre stage as the political focus has shifted away from the violence of the ETA years.

“Before, the only party looking after Basque interests was the PNV, so everyone voted for them regardless of their political leanings,” said García.

“But with Bildu gaining strength, if you’re left-wing and more socially minded, you’ll vote for them.”

A man and a child look at an electoral poster of pro-independence political coalition “EH Bildu” campaign meeting in the Spanish Basque city of Sestao on April 10, 2024 ahead of April 21 regional elections. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)

‘Left-wing separatist alternative’

Experts say Bildu has steadily gained political traction through a strategy that has steered clear of terror-related issues while refocusing squarely on social change.

“Bildu has become increasingly popular with young people, benefitting from the end of the armed struggle,” said Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University.

“That has allowed it to position itself as the pro-independence, left-wing alternative to the traditional PNV government with a substantial part of its agenda linked to social policies, wealth redistribution, environmentalism and the like.”

The aim was to “move away from terrorism-related issues to talk about other problems linked to the left and the right.”

Eva Silván, who heads public policy consultancy Silvan&Miracle, said it had also scaled back its separatist agenda.

“It started talking about issues that were more material than identity based, and reducing the pro-independence agenda to focus on concrete social and public policies,” she told AFP.

And that has played well with a new generation of voters “who hadn’t experienced terrorism and didn’t link the separatist left with violence”.

For them, she said, Bildu “really taps into the concerns of young people and best addresses their problems”.

By 2019, Bildu was well on its way to becoming just another political actor with its five lawmakers in Spain’s national parliament recently becoming a key ally for the minority government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

For Basque youth, Bildu – a coalition grouping several peaceful separatist parties with former members of ETA’s political wing – spells hope in Spain election, AFP reports on April 18, 2024. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)

Focus on youth, poor

In a square in Bilbao, four friends in their 20s reel off a list of struggles they’re facing, from impossibly high rents to worsening job conditions and the rising cost of living.

One won’t vote because she doesn’t believe in the political system, two can’t vote because they’re undocumented immigrants and the fourth says there’s “no point”, drawing protest from her friends who say Bildu is the only option.

“It’s essential to vote because even if Bildu doesn’t win, they’ll have greater representation in the Basque parliament,” explained Moroccan Usama Abdeloihidin, 26, who works in the hotel sector.

“They’re more focused on the working class and the situation of young people. The PNV might look out for Basque interests but not if you’re from a poor or minority neighbourhood,” he said.

At a Bildu rally in nearby town of Sestao, a crowd of supporters are cheering, clapping and waving red, white and green Basque flags as three students watch from the sidelines.

“Many young people are forced to balance studies and work and this capitalist exploitation is raising political awareness, so many Basques are turning to the left, to Bildu,” said Oier Gómez Parada, a 19-year-old Basque philology student.

“Bildu is focusing on people and raising awareness about the difficult conditions we’re facing that other parties just don’t care about.”

In nearby Agurain, 23-year-old student activist Oier Inurrieta Garamendia told AFP he felt represented because Bildu “lets young people speak, and doesn’t just speak in our name”.

“Whatever happens on April 21st, we’ll have a result we can really celebrate,” he said while admitting that even if Bildu did win 30 of the Basque parliament’s 75 seats, up from 21, it stood no chance of ruling.

“When the other parties refuse to work with EH Bildu, they’re not just blocking the party, they’re blocking the needs and desires of a large part of Basque society.”

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