Three Berries
Active member
Anonymous is Deep State, FWIW. They would be supporting the Ukraine Nazis.
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Anonymous is Deep State, FWIW. They would be supporting the Ukraine Nazis.
Three Berries
Active member
Your reality is based on what you are fed for info. How's that Deep State narrative going?
One of the secret labs was breached by Russian artillery thereby releasing thousands pigeons and other species of birds, programmed to fly throughout Russia, with the largest flock heading to Moscow. Upon reaching their various destinations, chips implanted in each bird will release biological disease specifically designed to infect Y chromosome haplogroups DNA marker types. The designer disease is deadly and short-lived so to die out rapidly preventing infection of related DNA groups like Ukraines and Fins.
Montuno
...como el Son...
This was also predicted by the Tartessian stele, on the B side.
Montuno
...como el Son...
The Spanish government now announces that it is almost certain that its recently rejected proposal to decouple the artificial mechanism that causes the price of gas to drive the price of electricity sky high (even if it is generated by solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, etc.) will finally be accepted by the European Union in April. If not, it states that it could take the measure on its own, with all the consequences that this could entail.
And it's one, two, three who are we fighting for?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft0vkKCadgk <<<< play this
https://twitter.com/georgesoros/stat...72126974525440 <<<< while you watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft0vkKCadgk <<<< play this
https://twitter.com/georgesoros/stat...72126974525440 <<<< while you watch this
Last edited:
Right here. Note the hypodermic needle and syringe.
And the spear to enforce the jab. And the person falling over almost dead after the jab.
In all fairness, they warned you that you needed a vaccination. They just couldn’t tell you the real reason.
Montuno
...como el Son...
Right here. Note the hypodermic needle and syringe.
Ja, ja, ja...
...And in this other, it predicts and describes how the warrior Putin has no choice but to bash open the skull of the Ukrainian warrior, whose mockery and insults were worse than weapons of mass destruction genocides...:
https://youtu.be/6yibJ3duOns
It starting to sound like everyone is Deep State save for about 5 people on ICMag.
Three Berries
Active member
Montuno
...como el Son...
SpanishARMS:
Interesting article from BELLINGCAT on Spanish arms exports to countries with little or no democracy, carried out before the current last government.
By:
Benjamin Strick
Benjamin Strick is a digital investigator with a background in law, military and technology and is the Director of Investigations for the Centre for Information Resilience. He specialises in open source intelligence (OSINT), satellite imagery, influence, data and maps.
Dangerous Goods: Tracing European Arms Used in Oppression and Human Rights Violations:
November 29, 2019
European arms have played a significant role in almost every conflict across the globe. Since 2018, a Bellingcat collaboration has documented, using open source, how European countries and companies have breached their own, and international, laws dozens of times.
Through the EU Arms Project, a Bellingcat and Lighthouse Reports collaborative initiative, we have documented where European arms end up after their export licences have been granted.
Our most recent project, #SpanishArms, documents where Spain has approved export licences for arms sold to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Nicaragua, and how those arms have been used in the facilitation of oppression or human rights violations.
Spain’s arms industry is on the rise, indicated by their climb from €933 million Euro in 2007 to €4.3 billion Euro in 2017, lamenting it with the title of 7th place among the world’s top arms exporters between 2014 and 2018. We’ve looked at arms like this Spanish patrol boat seen below, operated by the Royal Moroccan Navy and geolocated to the port of Dakhla in occupied Western Sahara (more here).
The importance of documenting where European arms end up:
The European Union Common Position provides a set of rules agreed upon by EU members to determine:
In doing so, the EU Arms Project has featured in the media, using open source and bringing into practical and accountable case studies to document breaches of the EU Common Position. For instance, in ARD (Germany), ARTE (France), Knack (Belgium) and Observatorio Diritti (Italy).
Our work has also been used in government, primarily in Germany and Belgium where Amnesty International Belgium called establishment of a parliamentary inquiry based on our findings.
How are the EU Arms workshops conducted in Europe?:
Since January 2018 we have traveled to six European countries where Lighthouse Reports set up temporary newsrooms to document where these arms really end up.
We’ve done this by teaching open source to civil society and journalists, and working with them to sift through the data, find the social media evidence, geolocate, chronolocate (time determination), and report on clear or potential breaches of the Common Position.
The projects have been run on a tight budget, with often poor WiFi, cheap coffee, and a lot of hard work and patience to track weapon systems in desert-like environments, urban areas, in the sky, or on the sea. Wherever they are, we find them.
Here is an example of some of the technical open source methods and crowdsourcing we use when identifying the presence of EU Arms used in places such as these Italian helicopters used in Afrin, Syria by Turkey.
This week a number of cases from the most recent #SpanishArms report will be released. One of them is the conversion of the Airbus A330 for Saudi Arabia’s Air Force after the bombings in Yemen had started.
CASE STUDY: A330 MRTT – Royal Saudi Air Force
Airstrikes in Yemen have caused widespread loss and civilian deaths, yet Spanish companies are maintaining planes in the Royal Saudi Air Force fleet.
Saudi A330 MRTTs are refueling planes that allow for bomber jets to refuel mid-air. We were able to track at least one tanker crossing the border into Yemen, and collected evidence of them refueling Saudi jets.
The original A330 plane had a civilian configuration, and Spanish group Iberia carried out the conversion. We were able to geolocate the planes flying into La Munoza at an airport in Madrid, where an employee we found on LinkedIn provided that he had performed maintenance on the A330.
Spain’s economy ministry reported that in 2016 more than €101 million euro of spare parts for in-flight refueling aircrafts were exported to Saudi Arabia.
Both Iberia and Airbus confirmed checks and maintenance were done in Saudi Arabia, but did not want to specify the maintenance work conducted in Saudi Arabia or in Spain. The legally-binding Common Position prohibits maintenance of military equipment for countries that commit atrocities.
You can view a video based on these findings and more, below.
https://youtu.be/t2xSZOZbORY
Next year, we will continue searching, identifying and locating Europe’s weapon systems overseas and identifying where they should never have been sent.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...ts-violations/
Interesting article from BELLINGCAT on Spanish arms exports to countries with little or no democracy, carried out before the current last government.
By:
Benjamin StrickBenjamin Strick is a digital investigator with a background in law, military and technology and is the Director of Investigations for the Centre for Information Resilience. He specialises in open source intelligence (OSINT), satellite imagery, influence, data and maps.
Dangerous Goods: Tracing European Arms Used in Oppression and Human Rights Violations:
November 29, 2019
European arms have played a significant role in almost every conflict across the globe. Since 2018, a Bellingcat collaboration has documented, using open source, how European countries and companies have breached their own, and international, laws dozens of times.
Through the EU Arms Project, a Bellingcat and Lighthouse Reports collaborative initiative, we have documented where European arms end up after their export licences have been granted.
Our most recent project, #SpanishArms, documents where Spain has approved export licences for arms sold to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Nicaragua, and how those arms have been used in the facilitation of oppression or human rights violations.
Spain’s arms industry is on the rise, indicated by their climb from €933 million Euro in 2007 to €4.3 billion Euro in 2017, lamenting it with the title of 7th place among the world’s top arms exporters between 2014 and 2018. We’ve looked at arms like this Spanish patrol boat seen below, operated by the Royal Moroccan Navy and geolocated to the port of Dakhla in occupied Western Sahara (more here).
The importance of documenting where European arms end up:
The European Union Common Position provides a set of rules agreed upon by EU members to determine:
- How an export licence is granted; and
- To avoid the use of European weapons in human rights abuses and to foster regional instability.
Criterion Two: Respect for human rights in the country of final destination as well as respect by that country of international humanitarian law.
Having assessed the recipient country’s attitude towards relevant principles established by international human rights instruments, Member States shall:
Having assessed the recipient country’s attitude towards relevant principles established by international human rights instruments, Member States shall:
- deny an export licence if there is a clear risk that the military technology or equipment to be exported might be used for internal repression;
- exercise special caution and vigilance in issuing licences, on a case-by-case basis and taking account of the nature of the military technology or equipment, to countries where serious violations of human rights have been established by the competent bodies of the United Nations, by the European Union or by the Council of Europe;
In doing so, the EU Arms Project has featured in the media, using open source and bringing into practical and accountable case studies to document breaches of the EU Common Position. For instance, in ARD (Germany), ARTE (France), Knack (Belgium) and Observatorio Diritti (Italy).
Our work has also been used in government, primarily in Germany and Belgium where Amnesty International Belgium called establishment of a parliamentary inquiry based on our findings.
How are the EU Arms workshops conducted in Europe?:
Since January 2018 we have traveled to six European countries where Lighthouse Reports set up temporary newsrooms to document where these arms really end up.
We’ve done this by teaching open source to civil society and journalists, and working with them to sift through the data, find the social media evidence, geolocate, chronolocate (time determination), and report on clear or potential breaches of the Common Position.
The projects have been run on a tight budget, with often poor WiFi, cheap coffee, and a lot of hard work and patience to track weapon systems in desert-like environments, urban areas, in the sky, or on the sea. Wherever they are, we find them.
Here is an example of some of the technical open source methods and crowdsourcing we use when identifying the presence of EU Arms used in places such as these Italian helicopters used in Afrin, Syria by Turkey.
This week a number of cases from the most recent #SpanishArms report will be released. One of them is the conversion of the Airbus A330 for Saudi Arabia’s Air Force after the bombings in Yemen had started.
CASE STUDY: A330 MRTT – Royal Saudi Air Force
Airstrikes in Yemen have caused widespread loss and civilian deaths, yet Spanish companies are maintaining planes in the Royal Saudi Air Force fleet.
Saudi A330 MRTTs are refueling planes that allow for bomber jets to refuel mid-air. We were able to track at least one tanker crossing the border into Yemen, and collected evidence of them refueling Saudi jets.
The original A330 plane had a civilian configuration, and Spanish group Iberia carried out the conversion. We were able to geolocate the planes flying into La Munoza at an airport in Madrid, where an employee we found on LinkedIn provided that he had performed maintenance on the A330.
Spain’s economy ministry reported that in 2016 more than €101 million euro of spare parts for in-flight refueling aircrafts were exported to Saudi Arabia.
Both Iberia and Airbus confirmed checks and maintenance were done in Saudi Arabia, but did not want to specify the maintenance work conducted in Saudi Arabia or in Spain. The legally-binding Common Position prohibits maintenance of military equipment for countries that commit atrocities.
You can view a video based on these findings and more, below.
https://youtu.be/t2xSZOZbORY
Next year, we will continue searching, identifying and locating Europe’s weapon systems overseas and identifying where they should never have been sent.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-a...ts-violations/
Ah, the old ‘for us, or agin us’.
Three Berries
Active member
[No message]
Fairly confident everyone in a conflict believes they’re the ‘good guys’.
Montuno
...como el Son...
Spanish volunteer shot and wounded as Ukraine continues to recruit more volunteers :
By:
MANUEL VILAS LÓPEZ
Monday, MARCH 7, 2022, 19:01 PM to GALICIA PRESS.
Volodymyr Zelensky indicated this weekend that nearly 20,000 people have signed up to fight as volunteers for the newly created Foreign Legion for Territorial Defense of Ukraine. Some are already on the front lines. Among them is a group of half a dozen Spaniards, one of whom has been wounded.
The Ukrainian government is not hiding when it comes to recruiting international volunteers online. In fact, it has launched an ad hoc site and has even hired advertisements to position it in the Google search engine.
RECRUITING THROUGH EMBASSIES:
The portal includes a live chat through which Ukraine gives concrete instructions on how to act once the volunteer arrives at the Ukrainian border with Poland. Among this information are the authorized border crossings (Shehyni or Korczowa-Krakovets) and the telephone numbers of the official Ukrainian diplomatic representation in Poland to contact once there.
The official Ukrainian recruitment channels in Spain include the details of the embassy itself in Madrid.
In fact, volunteers who are organizing in the country are disseminating in their discussion groups screenshots of their enlistment process with references to the Embassy.
Screenshot of a recruitment email from the Ukrainian embassy to a Spanish volunteer.
IS IT LEGAL? FOR NOW, IT IS NOT ILLEGAL
According to official sources from the Ministry of Justice told Galiciapress, fighting as a volunteer in Ukraine right now is not a crime. It was at the height of the war in Syria, when Spain and other countries declared ISIS like criminal organizations, and even Kurdish militias were criminal organizations to same of these countries..
Images of half a dozen Spaniards in military uniform, who are said to have arrived last week, are being circulated on Internet recruitment groups.
Spanish volunteers with the Ukrainian National Guard
Although Galiciapress cannot verify 100% the veracity of these images, given the proclamations of the Ukrainian government, the succession of photos over several days and the detail of the published testimonies, they are true. One of the images published includes a bullet wound in the leg of a supposedly Spanish fighter, who is said to have recovered.
Wounded Spanish volunteer
The story of those already present in the vicinity of Kiev is similar. They are people with military experience who have passed an interview in Spain, traveled autonomously to Poland without financial help and once over the border, inside Ukraine, they have been provided with the material to fight.
TESTIMONY FROM UKRAINE
"We are in Korostioshev, the situation is bad here" explains one of the Spaniards. Korostioshev is 110 kilometers east of Kiev by highway. It is therefore relatively close to the Russian advance lines.
"We are staying in a civilian house, we are 15 people of different nationalities, anyone who wants to participate in our group will have to be vetted," he explains to those from Spain who ask for information on how to join. The volunteer warns that food is scarce and subsistence is hard.
The Spaniards fight in units where there are ex-military men from other countries, French and British among others. According to the local newspaper Kiev Independent, there are also fighters from Sweden, the United States, Mexico, Lithuania and even India.
It should be recalled that Russia has just today included Spain in the list of "hostile countries". Among them are Spain and the rest of the EU, the United States, Japan or South Korea.
CONNECTIONS WITH THE ULTRA-RIGHT?
One of the reasons alleged by Russia to justify its aggression against Ukraine is the alleged presence of Nazis in its government and military forces. Something that is a half-truth, or a half-lie.
In the Ukrainian armed forces there are indeed far-right components, such as the Azov Battalion that is fighting in Mariupol, or Pravy Sektor. Although they are very much in the minority, they are part of the official structure of the army of the country under attack.
The same is true of recruitment channels. References to fascist ideology are very much in the minority in the unofficial channels and non-existent in the official ones.
When Galiciapress reported for the first time that there were Spaniards fighting in Ukraine, several volunteers got in touch to explain that they were not ultra-right.
However, these praises to fascism exist in these online conversations. One of the factors that explain them is that the Ukrainian government is now using the recruitment of European volunteers, something that the ultra-rightists of the Azov Battalion have been pushing for years to finance their war in the Dombass.
Image released on Monday of Spaniards with the Ukrainian armed forces:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gal...do-voluntarios
By:
MANUEL VILAS LÓPEZ
Monday, MARCH 7, 2022, 19:01 PM to GALICIA PRESS.
Volodymyr Zelensky indicated this weekend that nearly 20,000 people have signed up to fight as volunteers for the newly created Foreign Legion for Territorial Defense of Ukraine. Some are already on the front lines. Among them is a group of half a dozen Spaniards, one of whom has been wounded.
The Ukrainian government is not hiding when it comes to recruiting international volunteers online. In fact, it has launched an ad hoc site and has even hired advertisements to position it in the Google search engine.
RECRUITING THROUGH EMBASSIES:
The portal includes a live chat through which Ukraine gives concrete instructions on how to act once the volunteer arrives at the Ukrainian border with Poland. Among this information are the authorized border crossings (Shehyni or Korczowa-Krakovets) and the telephone numbers of the official Ukrainian diplomatic representation in Poland to contact once there.
The official Ukrainian recruitment channels in Spain include the details of the embassy itself in Madrid.
In fact, volunteers who are organizing in the country are disseminating in their discussion groups screenshots of their enlistment process with references to the Embassy.
Screenshot of a recruitment email from the Ukrainian embassy to a Spanish volunteer.
IS IT LEGAL? FOR NOW, IT IS NOT ILLEGAL
According to official sources from the Ministry of Justice told Galiciapress, fighting as a volunteer in Ukraine right now is not a crime. It was at the height of the war in Syria, when Spain and other countries declared ISIS like criminal organizations, and even Kurdish militias were criminal organizations to same of these countries..
Images of half a dozen Spaniards in military uniform, who are said to have arrived last week, are being circulated on Internet recruitment groups.
Spanish volunteers with the Ukrainian National Guard
Although Galiciapress cannot verify 100% the veracity of these images, given the proclamations of the Ukrainian government, the succession of photos over several days and the detail of the published testimonies, they are true. One of the images published includes a bullet wound in the leg of a supposedly Spanish fighter, who is said to have recovered.
Wounded Spanish volunteer
The story of those already present in the vicinity of Kiev is similar. They are people with military experience who have passed an interview in Spain, traveled autonomously to Poland without financial help and once over the border, inside Ukraine, they have been provided with the material to fight.
TESTIMONY FROM UKRAINE
"We are in Korostioshev, the situation is bad here" explains one of the Spaniards. Korostioshev is 110 kilometers east of Kiev by highway. It is therefore relatively close to the Russian advance lines.
"We are staying in a civilian house, we are 15 people of different nationalities, anyone who wants to participate in our group will have to be vetted," he explains to those from Spain who ask for information on how to join. The volunteer warns that food is scarce and subsistence is hard.
The Spaniards fight in units where there are ex-military men from other countries, French and British among others. According to the local newspaper Kiev Independent, there are also fighters from Sweden, the United States, Mexico, Lithuania and even India.
It should be recalled that Russia has just today included Spain in the list of "hostile countries". Among them are Spain and the rest of the EU, the United States, Japan or South Korea.
CONNECTIONS WITH THE ULTRA-RIGHT?
One of the reasons alleged by Russia to justify its aggression against Ukraine is the alleged presence of Nazis in its government and military forces. Something that is a half-truth, or a half-lie.
In the Ukrainian armed forces there are indeed far-right components, such as the Azov Battalion that is fighting in Mariupol, or Pravy Sektor. Although they are very much in the minority, they are part of the official structure of the army of the country under attack.
The same is true of recruitment channels. References to fascist ideology are very much in the minority in the unofficial channels and non-existent in the official ones.
When Galiciapress reported for the first time that there were Spaniards fighting in Ukraine, several volunteers got in touch to explain that they were not ultra-right.
However, these praises to fascism exist in these online conversations. One of the factors that explain them is that the Ukrainian government is now using the recruitment of European volunteers, something that the ultra-rightists of the Azov Battalion have been pushing for years to finance their war in the Dombass.
Image released on Monday of Spaniards with the Ukrainian armed forces:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gal...do-voluntarios
Montuno
...como el Son...
SEVEN YEARS UNDER THE BOMBS
Alexis's war, from Murcia to a militiaman in Ukraine: "Spain has not lost anything"
At the age of 24, he went to fight with the separatists in Donetsk, where he was seriously injured by a mine. He criticizes the West for looking for excuses to attack them: "There are no Russian troops here"
:format(jpg)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2Fd61%2F0b5%2Fa03%2Fd610b5a03dcca46f738d9706a08e0585.jpg)
Militiaman who left Spain to fight in Donetsk. (Alexis Castillo)
By Alexander Requeijo
01/26/2022 - 05:00
“The last serious injury I had was because my commander fell into a mine and the shrapnel hit me . He died". This is the story of a young Spaniard man who, at the age of 24, went to Ukraine to fight with separatist and pro-Russian militias in the Donbas war . Alexis Castillo; He has spent more than seven years in what until a few weeks ago was considered one of the forgotten conflicts on the planet. He complains that the Western discourse is now looking for a justification to attack them and warns Spain that it would make a mistake if it participated in a military intervention with NATO : "Nothing has been lost here . "
Alexis lived in Murcia, Madrid and Zaragoza. In Spain, he studied. As he narrates, he arrived in Ukraine in October 2014. There were others like him. Strongly ideological people who formed a kind of international brigades. Unlike most, Alexis stayed put. And until today. “I am a military man here . Normally, if we are not doing other things, we train. We perform the functions of any army, only in a conflict situation”, he says in an interview granted to El Confidencial by video call from Donetsk. He is part of a movement formally known as People's Militias which he pronounces with his name in Ukrainian.
:format(jpg)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2F70e%2F078%2F635%2F70e078635942b3a0f10b134ae1151c3f.jpg)
Why did the war between Ukraine and Russia start? How's it going? Reasons and consequencesThe confidential
He says he has no authority to give details of its structure, but explains that they follow “the same forms and construction as the Soviet Army . The structure is very similar. Donetsk province declared itself independent from Ukraine in 2014 in response to pro-European movements in the country. A good part of its population feels attached to Russia and from Kiev they accuse Moscow of feeding these rebel movements, something that the Kremlin has always denied. In some of the photos of him, Alexis poses with the flag of the Donetsk People's Republic . He is the same as the Russian, but changing the white for the black of his upper stripe.
That region has now returned to the news spotlight as the scene of a resurgence of tensions between the US and its European Union allies belonging to NATO —including Spain— against Vladimir Putin 's Russia . The former fear a Russian military intervention in Ukraine to contain the advance of the West. The Kremlin denies it, but one and the other take positions while saying exhaust diplomatic channels. Alexis, on the other hand, describes an atmosphere of tranquility: “Here people live the day normally, there is no panic. At the borders there is no movement like in 2014. It is more hysteria from, perhaps, the Western media, which is transmitting something that is absurd on the ground.”
"I don't think Russia is going to invade Ukraine"
His speech is anti-Western and critical of the media : “I don't think Russia is going to invade Ukraine. That sounds more like the story of the United States to me . They are orchestrating it to justify attacking us. What we do have on the other side, in the Ukraine, is that they have moved heavy artillery closer to the front. There are armies from other countries, regular armies. What I see are movements on the Ukrainian side , which are more aimed at attacking us, not by Russia, we do not have Russian troops nor have we ever had them”.
:format(jpg)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2Fcb1%2Fcd6%2F2a4%2Fcb1cd62a46cd4ec3b695ff91f6d494bb.jpg)
:format(jpg)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2Fcb1%2Fcd6%2F2a4%2Fcb1cd62a46cd4ec3b695ff91f6d494bb.jpg)
Alexis Castillo, in the company of two other militiamen from Donetsk. (AC)In most of his recent photos, this Donbas separatist militiaman wears a uniform. In some images of him, even medals and decorations can be seen on his chest. In the interview with this newspaper, however, he appears relaxed in a short-sleeved red shirt through which a tattoo appears. The name of Alexis Castillo appeared in 2015 along with 11 other people in the framework of an investigation by the National Police. He ended up with the arrest of eight young people in February of that year in the so-called Danko operation. They had in common that they had all been in Ukraine showing their support for armed groups in Donbas .
It was investigated in Spain
They were Rafael, from Gijón; Angel, from Cartagena; Andres, from Caceres; Sergio, from Madrid… So up to a dozen. The detainees were accused of cooperation in murders, deposit of weapons of war and a third crime as unusual as that of violation of the neutrality of the Kingdom of Spain . The National Court , at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, took less than a year to file the case. Regarding the cooperation to assassinate and the deposit of weapons, it determined that there was no evidence to prove their participation in combat. In the case there were only rather propagandistic photographs posing with weapons or between armored cars. Material that they left for the photo and then returned.
Regarding the third crime, they were saved because the Prosecutor 's Office understood that the existence of a military conflict between States in which Spain did not participate was necessary and that the acts carried out have the potential to harm abstention in a war. In this sense, the judge assumed that the nature of the small armed groups operating in the area was unknown, but it was not a confrontation between two States nor did the displaced Spaniards carry out acts of sufficient importance to compromise the neutrality of the country.
"Spain has more problems on its southern border with Morocco than here"
Alexis did not even testify for this cause, about which she hardly has any information. "I didn't get any letters," she says between laughs before asking herself in a serious tone why she should go to testify if she hasn't committed any crime. The mine explosion left her in a wheelchair for a while, but she clarifies that it did not happen during a fight. Regarding the rest of the Spaniards, he says that he did not know all of them and, therefore, he does not have complete information on what they did, but he laughs when asked if they took action: “I don't know if some of them were at the front . I know that many were in the kitchen, others made videos showing the reality of what was happening here, they had different functions”.
Police, vigilant
Some of them claimed to be part of a brigade called Carlos Palomino, in homage to a young man from the extreme left assassinated in 2007 by a neo-Nazi in Madrid . Alexis remembers that group of Spaniards as something “symbolic”. "I did not see that the Carlos Palomino brigade was a structured or organized thing ," says this 33-year-old militiaman. Police sources consulted by El Confidencial affirm that they have not detected recent movements between radical groups to move to the area after the increase in tensions. The experts consulted claim to be on the ground and have analyzed the situation without having reasons for concern at the moment.
:format(jpg)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2F978%2F9b7%2Fe4d%2F9789b7e4d94000627fe97ee919eb5bd8.jpg)
:format(jpg)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2F978%2F9b7%2Fe4d%2F9789b7e4d94000627fe97ee919eb5bd8.jpg)
Pro-Russian rebels move the coffin with the mortal remains of Alexei Mozgovói, head of a militia brigade. (EFE)Alexis is sparing in words when asked about the Spanish presence in the region or if there have been any recent arrivals: "I can't tell you much about who we are still here (...) I don't know that information." But he is emphatic in denying that there is an infrastructure to welcome international brigade members. In fact, he believes that if someone from Spain arrived as a volunteer to fight now, they would tell him to go home. “Now there are no militias that existed in those days. Now everything has its basis and its formality . I see difficult. In all the time that we have been at war, the Army has become professionalized, structured, centralized”, he explains.
In his opinion, Spain would make a “mistake” if it participated in a military intervention: “Spain has more problems on its southern border with Morocco than here. Nothing has been lost here. She should worry about solving problems within her borders and not spend money supporting an escalation that doesn't make sense." He describes his neighbors in Donetsk as people who "want to defend the self-determination of republics that have made a decision through a referendum." “Whether or not he wants to unite with Russia, this is already the decision of the people here, which we hope will be in a calm and peaceful environment. Nobody wants war here” , ditch.
https://www.elconfidencial.com/espan...rania_3364340/
Alexis's war, from Murcia to a militiaman in Ukraine: "Spain has not lost anything"
At the age of 24, he went to fight with the separatists in Donetsk, where he was seriously injured by a mine. He criticizes the West for looking for excuses to attack them: "There are no Russian troops here"
By Alexander Requeijo
01/26/2022 - 05:00
“The last serious injury I had was because my commander fell into a mine and the shrapnel hit me . He died". This is the story of a young Spaniard man who, at the age of 24, went to Ukraine to fight with separatist and pro-Russian militias in the Donbas war . Alexis Castillo; He has spent more than seven years in what until a few weeks ago was considered one of the forgotten conflicts on the planet. He complains that the Western discourse is now looking for a justification to attack them and warns Spain that it would make a mistake if it participated in a military intervention with NATO : "Nothing has been lost here . "
Alexis lived in Murcia, Madrid and Zaragoza. In Spain, he studied. As he narrates, he arrived in Ukraine in October 2014. There were others like him. Strongly ideological people who formed a kind of international brigades. Unlike most, Alexis stayed put. And until today. “I am a military man here . Normally, if we are not doing other things, we train. We perform the functions of any army, only in a conflict situation”, he says in an interview granted to El Confidencial by video call from Donetsk. He is part of a movement formally known as People's Militias which he pronounces with his name in Ukrainian.
He says he has no authority to give details of its structure, but explains that they follow “the same forms and construction as the Soviet Army . The structure is very similar. Donetsk province declared itself independent from Ukraine in 2014 in response to pro-European movements in the country. A good part of its population feels attached to Russia and from Kiev they accuse Moscow of feeding these rebel movements, something that the Kremlin has always denied. In some of the photos of him, Alexis poses with the flag of the Donetsk People's Republic . He is the same as the Russian, but changing the white for the black of his upper stripe.
That region has now returned to the news spotlight as the scene of a resurgence of tensions between the US and its European Union allies belonging to NATO —including Spain— against Vladimir Putin 's Russia . The former fear a Russian military intervention in Ukraine to contain the advance of the West. The Kremlin denies it, but one and the other take positions while saying exhaust diplomatic channels. Alexis, on the other hand, describes an atmosphere of tranquility: “Here people live the day normally, there is no panic. At the borders there is no movement like in 2014. It is more hysteria from, perhaps, the Western media, which is transmitting something that is absurd on the ground.”
"I don't think Russia is going to invade Ukraine"
His speech is anti-Western and critical of the media : “I don't think Russia is going to invade Ukraine. That sounds more like the story of the United States to me . They are orchestrating it to justify attacking us. What we do have on the other side, in the Ukraine, is that they have moved heavy artillery closer to the front. There are armies from other countries, regular armies. What I see are movements on the Ukrainian side , which are more aimed at attacking us, not by Russia, we do not have Russian troops nor have we ever had them”.
Alexis Castillo, in the company of two other militiamen from Donetsk. (AC)In most of his recent photos, this Donbas separatist militiaman wears a uniform. In some images of him, even medals and decorations can be seen on his chest. In the interview with this newspaper, however, he appears relaxed in a short-sleeved red shirt through which a tattoo appears. The name of Alexis Castillo appeared in 2015 along with 11 other people in the framework of an investigation by the National Police. He ended up with the arrest of eight young people in February of that year in the so-called Danko operation. They had in common that they had all been in Ukraine showing their support for armed groups in Donbas .
It was investigated in Spain
They were Rafael, from Gijón; Angel, from Cartagena; Andres, from Caceres; Sergio, from Madrid… So up to a dozen. The detainees were accused of cooperation in murders, deposit of weapons of war and a third crime as unusual as that of violation of the neutrality of the Kingdom of Spain . The National Court , at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, took less than a year to file the case. Regarding the cooperation to assassinate and the deposit of weapons, it determined that there was no evidence to prove their participation in combat. In the case there were only rather propagandistic photographs posing with weapons or between armored cars. Material that they left for the photo and then returned.
Regarding the third crime, they were saved because the Prosecutor 's Office understood that the existence of a military conflict between States in which Spain did not participate was necessary and that the acts carried out have the potential to harm abstention in a war. In this sense, the judge assumed that the nature of the small armed groups operating in the area was unknown, but it was not a confrontation between two States nor did the displaced Spaniards carry out acts of sufficient importance to compromise the neutrality of the country.
"Spain has more problems on its southern border with Morocco than here"
Alexis did not even testify for this cause, about which she hardly has any information. "I didn't get any letters," she says between laughs before asking herself in a serious tone why she should go to testify if she hasn't committed any crime. The mine explosion left her in a wheelchair for a while, but she clarifies that it did not happen during a fight. Regarding the rest of the Spaniards, he says that he did not know all of them and, therefore, he does not have complete information on what they did, but he laughs when asked if they took action: “I don't know if some of them were at the front . I know that many were in the kitchen, others made videos showing the reality of what was happening here, they had different functions”.
Police, vigilant
Some of them claimed to be part of a brigade called Carlos Palomino, in homage to a young man from the extreme left assassinated in 2007 by a neo-Nazi in Madrid . Alexis remembers that group of Spaniards as something “symbolic”. "I did not see that the Carlos Palomino brigade was a structured or organized thing ," says this 33-year-old militiaman. Police sources consulted by El Confidencial affirm that they have not detected recent movements between radical groups to move to the area after the increase in tensions. The experts consulted claim to be on the ground and have analyzed the situation without having reasons for concern at the moment.
Pro-Russian rebels move the coffin with the mortal remains of Alexei Mozgovói, head of a militia brigade. (EFE)Alexis is sparing in words when asked about the Spanish presence in the region or if there have been any recent arrivals: "I can't tell you much about who we are still here (...) I don't know that information." But he is emphatic in denying that there is an infrastructure to welcome international brigade members. In fact, he believes that if someone from Spain arrived as a volunteer to fight now, they would tell him to go home. “Now there are no militias that existed in those days. Now everything has its basis and its formality . I see difficult. In all the time that we have been at war, the Army has become professionalized, structured, centralized”, he explains.
In his opinion, Spain would make a “mistake” if it participated in a military intervention: “Spain has more problems on its southern border with Morocco than here. Nothing has been lost here. She should worry about solving problems within her borders and not spend money supporting an escalation that doesn't make sense." He describes his neighbors in Donetsk as people who "want to defend the self-determination of republics that have made a decision through a referendum." “Whether or not he wants to unite with Russia, this is already the decision of the people here, which we hope will be in a calm and peaceful environment. Nobody wants war here” , ditch.
https://www.elconfidencial.com/espan...rania_3364340/
