The Diplomat
The Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has informed his EU counterparts, the European Commission, EUROPOL and the European Parliament of the explosion of six letter bombs in Spain that “could be related to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia” in order to “evaluate possible actions” and in view of the possibility “of similar incidents in other countries”.
The letter was sent to the interior ministers of the rest of the EU states, to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson; to the president of the European Parliament’s Freedoms Committee, Juan Fernando López Aguilar; to the executive director of EUROPOL, Catherine de Bolle; and to the EU’s counter-terrorism coordinator, Ilkka Salmi. The aim of the letter, he explains, is “to inform the European institutions and the Member and Associated States of these events, which could be related to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, in order to assess possible actions and in case similar incidents occur in other countries”, as reported by Europa Press agency.
Likewise, the Minister of the Interior informs that the Court Number 4 of the Audiencia Nacional has taken charge of the investigation of the facts and that he himself has ordered “an increase of the security measures around the diplomatic legations present in Spain, as well as in other areas of special protection”, which are added to the other security measures adopted after the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
In the letter, Grande-Marlaska informs about the six packages with pyrotechnic material sent against several pro-Ukrainian targets in Spain: the letter sent last November 24 to the Moncloa Palace and addressed to President Pedro Sánchez, the envelope sent last Wednesday to the Ukrainian Embassy (which caused one minor injury) and the letters sent on Thursday to the US Embassy (addressed to the ambassador, Julissa Reynoso), the Ministry of Defense, the Satellite Center at the Torrejón de Ardoz air base (Madrid) and the weapons company Instalaza in Zaragoza (specialized in Defense material and which manufactured the 1,370 C-90 and Alcotan type grenade launchers delivered by Spain to Ukraine last March).
“Pending the progress of the investigations and the results of the analyses of different nature that are being carried out by experts of the National Police, both the characteristics of the envelopes and their contents are similar”, continues the Minister of the Interior. According to the Ministry, the incendiary device contained in the six envelopes is homemade and causes a “sudden flame deflagration”. In addition, the letters appear to have been sent from Spain and all were sent in brown envelopes with the same handwriting.
On the other hand, Grande-Marlaska assured the press yesterday that there has been “no security breach” since the first letter sent to Pedro Sánchez was detected. “All the packages were detected as they should have been,” he continued. “Let’s hope to have positive results in a short period of time,” he declared, after participating in the presentation ceremony of the Civil Guard’s Solidarity Calendar 2023, whose funds will go to the National Association for Rett Syndrome Research.
