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POLITICS

Spain summons Russian ambassador over ‘misinformation’

Spain said on Friday that it summoned the Russian ambassador over a video shared on their social media accounts that falsely portrayed Spanish troops fighting in Ukraine.

Published: 29 April 2023 09:09 CEST
Spanish flag outside administrative building
Spain on Friday summoned the Russian ambassador over a social media video falsely portraying Spanish troops fighting in Ukraine. Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

The video posted Wednesday – which has since been removed – showed what the embassy said were Spanish soldiers on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to Spanish media reports.

The images were contrasted with a clip of Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles saying Spanish troops would never fight in Ukraine.

Spain’s foreign ministry demanded the “immediate” removal of the video and summoned Russia’s ambassador to Spain “to protest the attacks on social media against the government,” a ministry spokesman told AFP.

The foreign ministry expressed “its strong rejection of this type of publication” during its meeting with the ambassador, which took place on Thursday, the spokesman added.

READ ALSO: Spain arrests 10 for robbing Ukrainian refugees

Asked about the video during a Madrid press conference with her visiting counterparts from France and Germany, Robles reiterated there are no Spanish troops in Ukraine.

“There are absolutely no NATO troop, no Spanish soldiers belonging to Spain’s armed forces, or the armed forces of any NATO country, in Ukraine. None,” she said.

“We all know that a country like Russia, which is massacring citizens in Ukraine right now, uses all kinds of methods, including misinformation to undermine the friendship of the nations that are part of the European Union and NATO.”

Spain, a NATO member which will assume the rotating presidency of the EU in July, is a staunch ally of Ukraine.

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MIDDLE EAST CRISIS

Spain’s PM to set date for recognition of Palestinian state on Wednesday

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Friday he will on Wednesday announce the date on which Madrid will recognise a Palestinian state along with other nations.

Published: 17 May 2024 16:24 CEST
Spain's PM to set date for recognition of Palestinian state on Wednesday

“We are in the process of coordinating with other countries,” he said during an interview with private Spanish television station La Sexta when asked if this step would be taken on Tuesday as announced by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Sanchez said in March that Spain and Ireland, along with Slovenia and Malta had agreed to take the first steps towards recognition of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, seeing a two-state solution as essential for lasting peace.

Borrell told Spanish public radio last week that Spain, Ireland and Slovenia planned to symbolically recognise a Palestinian state on May 21, saying he had been given this date by Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said Tuesday that Dublin was certain to recognise Palestinian statehood by the end of the month but the “specific date is still fluid”.

So far, 137 of the 193 UN member states have recognised a Palestinian state, according to figures provided by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

Despite the growing number of EU countries in favour of such a move, neither France nor Germany support the idea. Western powers have long argued such recognition should only happen as part of a negotiated peace with Israel.

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