The Russian Nationalist Who Threatened to Raze Poland Now Supports Catalan Separatism

@ElentirENG ES 11·11·2017 · 7:24 0

The eccentric international supporters of Catalan separatism reached its most extreme example last Thursday with a rally before the General Consulate of Spain in Moscow.

The Polish Government Supports Spain Against the Separatist Coup in Catalonia
A Joint Spanish-Polish Homage to the Spanish Police and Civil Guard

Zhirinovsky shows his ignorance about Catalonia

The event, whose purpose was to support Catalan separatism, was convoked by the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), an ultranationalist political party presided by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an extravagant and highly controversial character, who was present at the rally. According to the party website, Zhirinovsky said that Catalans "have the right to autonomy." Surely he was not informed that Catalonia is an autonomous community since 1979. Despite his ignorance, the leader of the LDPR dared to speak on behalf of the people of Catalonia: "The Catalans do not want to be part of the Spanish nation. They want to be Catalans. They want to talk, learn, work, use their native Catalan language." Zhirinovsky ignores that an illegal referendum without democratic guarantees, and in which only 43% of the census participated, does not represent the opinion of the people of Catalonia. In addition, they have not informed him that Spanish is the most spoken language in Catalonia, according to the Catalan government.

He ask everyone to support the separatist coup in Catalonia

Zhirinovsky did, as his party has informed, "an appeal to all parliaments of the world with a proposal to discuss the problem of Catalonia and support the Catalan people in their struggle for independence." The LDPR broadcast a video of the concentration on its YouTube channel. The video shows that the event was attended by between 20 and 30 people, most wearing symbols of Zhirinovsky's party.

In 2014 Zhirinovsky threatened to annihilate Poland and the Baltic Republics

Russia's neighbors will have been surprised to hear Zhirinovsky talking about respect for the independence of Catalonia, which is not even an independent country, after the threats he launched against Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in August 2014: "The Baltic States and Poland are condemned. They will be annihilated. Nothing will remain there," the leader of the LDPR said. In what appeared to be an announcement of the Third World War, he extended his threats to all the former member countries of the Warsaw Pact and today members of NATO: "Eastern European countries run the risk of being completely destroyed".

The statements of Putin's ally provoked a diplomatic conflict

These statements would not have had much relevance were it not for the fact that Zhirinovsky's party is a parliamentary ally of the party of Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Federation. The threats of Zhirinovsky provoked a diplomatic crisis. An adviser to the Polish presidency, Tomasz Nalecz, pointed to these declarations as the product of a "sick mind" and added: "It is an outrage that anyone can propose such actions against Poland." Because of threats from the leader of the LDPR, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland held a meeting with the Russian Ambassador in the country, in order to ask him for explanations for those statements by the ally of the President of Russia.

One more chapter of the Russian interference in the separatist coup in Catalonia

The rally of the party of Zhirinovsky to support the Catalan separatism is only an example of the constant Russian interference in the crisis provoked by the separatist coup in Catalonia. Spanish newspapers had already denounced the support of the Russian official media to the separatist cause. Yesterday the Spanish government confirmed that Russian hackers have supported Catalan separatism, collaborating in propaganda work and information intoxication in social networks in favor of the coup plotters. The objective of these interferences is obvious: to destabilize the European Union and the member countries of NATO. We must remember that Spain is actively collaborating with military support to defend the eastern borders of NATO. Last year, a Spanish Army Brigade was deployed in Poland to participate in the Brilliant Jump 16 exercise at the Camp Karliki maneuvering field in Zagan, and currently another Spanish military Brigade is deployed in Latvia. Russia knows that the weaker Spain is, the less support it can provide to its Baltic allies in the event of a conflict like the one in Ukraine.