0 Persons are tagged with #spanish

#spanish

prplcdclnw@diasp.eu
David

[gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/voaheadlines/2024/Oct/08/https---www.voanews.com-a-new-details-emerge-of-how-journalist-turned-spy-kept-watch-on-navalny-7814317.html](gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/voaheadlines/2024/Oct/08/https---www.voanews.com-a-new-details-emerge-of-how-journalist-turned-spy-kept-watch-on-navalny-7814317.html)

Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.

New details emerge of how journalist-turned-spy kept watch on Navalny

by Graham Keeley

For nearly a decade, a Spanish Russian freelancer used his cover as a
journalist to spy on Russian dissidents for Moscow, including late
opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Disclosures from intelligence services have shed further light on how
Pablo Gonzalez operated.

Posing as a journalist, Gonzalez allegedly sent the GRU, the Russian
military intelligence, photographs and the Wi-Fi passwords of venues
for meetings of exiled opposition groups.

Gonzalez was also accused of preparing reports on forums attended by
officials from former Soviet Union countries.

His alleged investigations centered on prospective NATO members,
dissident members and the security structures of neighboring states.

His cover as a freelancer who reported for Spanish media and
contributed to international networks, including Spain's EFE, Deutsche
Welle, and VOA was so good that even after his arrest in Poland in
February 2022, some supporters still believed it was a case of mistaken
identity.

In August, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Gonzalez at an
airport in Moscow as part of a hostage swap in which American
journalists and Russian rights activists were exchanged for an assassin
and spies. Their greeting ended any speculation.

Gonzalez, a married father of three, always denied spying and was never
formally charged.

But on Sunday, Spanish newspaper [1]El Mundo reported it had obtained
access to dozens of reports on Gonzalez, citing "Spanish and foreign
intelligence sources."

The Polish prosecutor's office said in a report that Gonzalez "formally
belonged to the structures of the (GRU)" from April 2016.

He was described as "a journalist and political scientist by
profession, married with three children, who covered current affairs
throughout the former Soviet Union with a monthly income of between
'¬1,500 ($1,645) and '¬2,000 ($2,194) and collaborated with various
news outlets."

VOA hired Gonzalez via a third-party freelance media platform. After
learning of his arrest in Poland, the broadcaster removed his content.

Miguel Angel Oliver, president of EFE, told VOA that his network had a
" brief collaboration" with Gonzalez, principally about photographs at
the start of the Ukraine war."

Espionage files

El Mundo described how Polish investigators allegedly uncovered a
report in Gonzalez's possession containing "the addresses of clinics in
Barcelona and Lausanne" in Switzerland where Navalny was treated in
2017. The document is dated June 14, 2017.

Navalny met Gonzalez twice in Europe, once when Navalny underwent eye
surgery in Barcelona after being attacked with a chemical substance.
Gonzalez allegedly sent details of the clinic to Russian authorities,
even taking a selfie with Navalny.

In September 2020, after Navalny survived a poisoning attempt, Gonzalez
posted the selfie on social media. In a post, he said Navalny was not
being targeted by the Russian government, investigators alleged.

Gonzalez also suggested on social media that Navalny's anti-corruption
platform FBK would "continue operating as usual with more support and
permissiveness," saying the opposition leader was "neither dead nor
incapacitated."

In 2023, Navalny returned to Russia and died in a high-security prison
in Siberia in February 2024.

On the surface, Gonzalez worked as a reporter, specializing in the
post-Soviet Union republics.

Polish intelligence said Gonzalez began reporting back to Moscow when
he began traveling abroad.

Documents found in his possession between 2016 and 2021 detail that
after a stay in Georgia, Gonzalez sent a report to the GRU about the
"issue of post-Soviet states and accession processes" and "NATO members
and aspiring members' attitudes towards Russia."

Gonzalez is also accused of sending information about key security
infrastructure in Poland. He allegedly published "disinformation
articles on the internet aligned with the Russian Federation's official
propaganda policy," the files seen by El Mundo said.

The newspaper said it had reviewed the contents of laptops, phones,
iPads and memory cards, seized when Gonzalez was arrested. Electronic
devices that could be used to establish clandestine communication
channels were discovered, according to Polish investigators.

When questioned, Gonzalez denied spying, according to Polish court
documents viewed by the Spanish newspaper.

However, when confronted with documentary evidence, Gonzalez "refused
to comment."

His lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, said the details published by El Mundo left
him feeling "helpless."

"Polish law prevents us from talking about anything that is part of the
criminal process," Boye told VOA. "It is as if the intention is to show
Pablo as being guilty when for more than 2 ½ years, they were not able
to bring an accusation and bring him to trial."

The lawyer, who has represented American whistleblower Edward Snowden
and Carles Puigdemont, a Catalan separatist leader, compared Gonzalez
to Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter unjustly detained in Russia
for nearly 500 days on false espionage charges.

Gonzalez was one of several suspected Russian spies released in
exchange for Gershkovich and other political prisoners.

"It is clear that there is a double standard in dealing with the case
of one and the other journalist," Boye told VOA, adding, "But I
understand that this is what happens in political contexts like the one
we are living in at the moment when one is on one side or the other,
when I prefer to be on the side of truth and the rule of law."

Through Boye, VOA asked Gonzalez for a comment but did not receive a
response.

A source with knowledge of the Russian intelligence sector who did not
want to be named, told VOA that Gonzalez grew up in Basque Country,
where sympathies for the independence movement are common. And in
left-wing circles, support for Putin is not unusual.

This meant many who met him did not challenge his pro-Russian roots,
far less suspect he worked for Russian intelligence.

Alongside spying on Navalny in 2016, Gonzalez infiltrated the Boris
Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, named after a Russian opposition
politician who was assassinated in 2015. At the foundation, he became
close with key members of the group.

Nemtsov's daughter Zhanna Nemtsova posted on social media that she was
a victim of Gonzalez.

Spanish secret services, speaking on background to a VOA reporter, said
they believed he was a Russian spy.

Polish security services said Gonzalez had been "carrying out
intelligence tasks in Europe."

Richard Moore, head of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, said
at the Aspen Security Forum in 2022 that Gonzalez was an "illegal"
arrested in Poland after "masquerading as a Spanish journalist."

"He was going into Ukraine to be part of their destabilizing efforts
there," Moore said.

References

  1. https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2024/10/06/67017e87fc6c83424f8b4595.html

#navalny #russia #spy #spying #gru #journalist #journalism #pablo-gonzalez #espionage #spain #spanish #reporter #prisoner-swap

The 'Navalny Mission': how Spanish-Russian spy Pablo González gathered intelligence on Putin's top opponent

Polish authorities accuse Spanish journalist Pablo González of having worked as a Russian spy for nearly a decade, gathering intelligence on key figures such as Vladimir...

One person like that
eileen@despora.de
Eileen Brophy

A megalithic monument in Spain, older than the Pyramids was uncovered from its watery hiding place by a drought.
The “Spanish Stonehenge” is about 7,000 years old, some 2,000 years older than Stonehenge itself.
See more: https://themindcircle.com/spanish-stonehenge/

#Megalith #Monument #Spain #Spanish #Stonehenge

Spanish Stonehenge: A Megalithic Monument Older Than The Pyramids

The Dolmen of Guadalperal, also known as the Spanish Stonehenge, is a megalithic monument that was constructed more than 7,000 years ago...

2 Likes
aljazeera@squeet.me
Al Jazeera (unofficial)

Sirens blare in Spanish civil war town of Guernica in solidarity with Gaza | AJ #shorts

Hear the moment an air raid siren blares in Guernica, Spain as protesters form the Palestinian flag in the same market square that was bombed by Nazi and fas...#AlJazeera #AlJazeeraEnglish #Guernica #Nazi #Palestinian #Spanish #air #alJazeera #aljazeeraEnglish #aljazeeralive #aljazeeravideo #aljazeeraEnglish #aljazeeralatest #aljazeeralive #aljazeeralivenews #blares #civil #fascist #flag #latestnews #newsheadlines #protesters #raid #siren #war
Sirens blare in Spanish civil war town of Guernica in solidarity with Gaza | AJ #shorts

2 Likes
loposum@diaspora-fr.org
Loposum

The Platform (movie]

The Platform (Spanish: El hoyo, transl. The Hole) is a 2019 Spanish social science fiction horror film directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. The film is set in a large, tower-style "Vertical Self-Management Center." Its residents, who are switched every month between its many floors, are fed via a platform which, initially filled with food at the top floor, gradually descends through the tower's levels, stopping for a fixed amount of time on each. The system inevitably leads to conflict, as the residents at the top levels get to eat as much as they can, with each level only getting the leftovers from the previous ones.

La Plateforme (espagnol : El hoyo, transl. The Hole) est un film d'horreur espagnol de science-fiction sociale de 2019 réalisé par Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. Le film se déroule dans une grande tour de type "Centre d'autogestion verticale". Ses résidents, qui sont échangés chaque mois entre ses nombreux étages, sont nourris par l'intermédiaire d'une plateforme qui, initialement remplie de nourriture au dernier étage, descend progressivement à travers les niveaux de la tour, s'arrêtant pour une durée fixe sur chacun d'eux. Ce système conduit inévitablement à des conflits, car les résidents des étages supérieurs mangent autant qu'ils le peuvent, chaque étage ne recevant que les restes des étages précédents.

This film is crazy! An obvious parallel with the organization of our societies.
Several interpretations are possible
I highly recommend it (although it's a little violent).

Ce film est dingue ! Un parallèle évident avec l'organisation de nos sociétés.
Plusieurs interprétations sont possibles
Je vous le conseille fortement (bien qu'un brin violent quand même).

The Platform

#movie #film #theplatform #elhoyo #laplateforme #society #social #spanish

aljazeera@squeet.me
Al Jazeera (unofficial)

Cut diplomatic ties with Israel over “genocide,” Spanish minister says | Al Jazeera Newsfeed

Spanish Minister of Social Rights Ione Belarra told Al Jazeera that her country should cut diplomatic ties with Israel over its “genocide” against Palestinia...#AlJazeera #AlJazeeraEnglish #Gaza #Hamas #Israel #Palestine #Spain #Spanish #alJazeera #aljazeeraEnglish #aljazeeralive #aljazeeravideo #aljazeeraEnglish #aljazeeralatest #aljazeeralive #aljazeeralivenews #diplomatic #genocide #latestnews #minister #newsheadlines #relations #ties
Cut diplomatic ties with Israel over “genocide,” Spanish minister says | Al Jazeera Newsfeed

One person like that