Subject: Spanish Guardia Civil detentions in Catalonia as part of the Operation Volkhov
On October 28, following several court orders, the Spanish paramilitary Guardia Civil police arrested 21 citizens in Catalonia. The detainees were businessmen linked to the pro-independence movement, Catalan Government officials and local politicians. The Guardia Civil called it Operation Volkhov, after a WWII battle won by the Nazis with the help of Spain’s “Division Azul”.
The investigation refers amongst others to the alleged collaboration of the Kremlin, who according to the case documents would have committed to sending 10,000 Russian soldiers to Catalonia, if independence were declared. The official Twitter of the Russian embassy in Madrid clarified in an ironic statement that the number of soldiers would indeed be one milion.?
1) Does the Commission consider the fact that the Guardia Civil called the operation “Volkhov” constitutes apology -or banalisation- of Nazism?
2) Does the EEAS have any indication of the alleged military aid from Russia, that if true, would have caused a major global conflict, since it would have triggered the NATO mutual defence clause?
3) Does the Commission consider that police and judicial reports constructed on the basis of such highly untenable assumptions is a sign of the proper functioning of the rule oflaw?
