published new materials of the “Catalan case”

Spanish police today released new materials on the “Catalan case”, in which a number of officials (including the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Cales Puigdemont), are accused of abuse of power after they declared the independence of Catalonia contrary to the Spanish constitution.

The police report, available to The Insider, includes, among other things, many quotes from the correspondence of Josep Luis Alai, head of Puigdemont’s office. As it turns out, Alai was in close contact with businessman Alexander Dmitrenko, whom law enforcement officials call a representative of the Russian special services, who has close ties with the Russian mafia. Dmitrenko’s assets in Spain were frozen, and he himself categorically denies any connections with both the mafia and the special services. In his correspondence, Alai calls Dmitrenko “our man” in Russia, who “opens many doors for us in Moscow”.

Among other things, the police report suggests that those associated with Dmitrenko financed separatist projects through a Chinese trading company that sells Russian oil.

It also follows from the correspondence that for the sake of rapprochement with the Kremlin, Catalan officials were ready to hush up politically sensitive topics such as the poisoning of Navalny: “I recommend not talking about Navalny yet,” writes Alai Puigdemon, “Nothing is clear, and I think it’s better to wait to find out if there was a poisoning and, if so, where did it come from. “

In other messages, Alai regrets that Puigdemont welcomed the visit of the elected President of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to the European Parliament, urging not to touch on this painful topic for the Kremlin.

Alai also corresponded with the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Primakov, whom he called “more influential than Lavrov.” In their correspondence, they exchange words of support (although officially Moscow maintains neutrality on the Catalan issue) and compare the EU’s attitude towards the Catalans with the “oppression” of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.