The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has sent a letter to his European partners as well as to the European Commission in which he warns that the six letters with pyrotechnic material sent to the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, as well as to the embassies of Ukraine and the United States, among others, “could be related to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia” if they want to take action on it.
And it is that the six brown envelopes with homemade pyrotechnic material inside – whose shipment is being investigated by the National Court for an alleged crime of terrorism – have a clear common link: the recipients are related by their support for the Ukrainian people against the Russian invasion . From the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, passing through an arms company, whose material Spain donated to Ukraine. Also the US and Ukrainian embassy.
According to Marlaska, “pending the progress of the investigations and the results of the analyzes of a different nature that are being carried out by experts from the National Police, both the characteristics of the envelopes and their content are similar.”
Thus, the head of the Interior explains that he considers it “necessary 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, to evaluate possible actions and in the event that they are similar incidents occur in other countries.
Yesterday, the Minister of Defense, who visited Ukraine yesterday for the first time since the war began, wanted to send a clear message, stating that “what must be made very clear is that none of these shipments, nor any other violent act, will change Spain’s clear and firm commitment to the NATO countries and the European Union to support Ukraine”, because “it is defending a just cause”.
From Europe, the Commission’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Peter Stano, described the envelopes received as “very serious and serious incidents”, although he refused to “speculate” on what the reasons could have been. For its part, the Russian embassy in Spain wanted to distance itself from the shipments. Through his Twitter account, he condemned “any terrorist threat or act, even more so directed against a diplomatic mission.”
Fernando Grande-Marlaska yesterday asked for “tranquility”. His number two in the ministry offered a press conference yesterday to offer details of the shipments after it became known that the first envelope was detected in Moncloa. It was the previous Thursday, but the Government did not inform the National Court because at that time the police investigations began to try to find out who was behind that brown envelope that was detonated in a controlled manner.
It was this Wednesday, after it became known that a worker from the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid had been injured after handling a suspicious envelope, when the National Police crossed the cases: it was a similar letter -in appearance and content- that the that arrived with Sánchez as recipient. Four more were received yesterday. The Police detonated another suspicious package in the vicinity of the Air Force headquarters, but after analysis, no type of explosive or explosive device or material was found.
The Police, through the first inquiries, has the hypothesis that the envelopes –with the same handwriting– have been sent from Spain. The only envelope that has not detonated – the one found in Torrejón de Ardoz – will be key for investigators who are already analyzing any trace of DNA. In addition, they study the characteristics of the envelopes, the traceability of the shipments, the postmarks and the pyrotechnic material.
