Sputnik News, Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 (Three other news reports further below.)
Spanish police have arrested eight Spanish citizens who took part in the Ukrainian conflict, a spokesman for the Spanish Interior Ministry told Sputnik on Friday.
Those arrested are accused of involvement in crimes of murder, possession of weapons and explosives and acts against the interests of Spain abroad.
The ministry spokesman said that all the detainees had been fighting “on the same side”, however he could not confirm nor specify whether they fought alongside Kiev forces or independence supporters. Neither the time they spent in Ukraine, nor the date when they returned to Spain, is known yet.
The eight were detained at 05:30 GMT on Friday during a raid that took place in several different regions across Spain — Asturias, Catalonia, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia and Navarre.
An armed conflict broke out in Ukraine’s southeast last April, after Kiev launched a military operation against the region’s pro-independence movement.
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Arrested Spaniards Fought for Free Donbas – Anti-Fascist Committee
Arresting eight Spaniards, who supported independent Donbas, and ignoring those, who fought alongside Kiev’s army, is “a manifestation of double standards”, the Madrid Committee in Support of Anti-Fascist Ukraine told Sputnik.
All the Spaniards arrested by Spanish police earlier this morning for taking part in the Ukrainian conflict were fighting alongside Donbas independence supporters, Agustin Rivas, a representative of the Madrid Committee in Support of Anti-Fascist Ukraine, confirmed to Sputnik on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, the Spanish Interior Ministry’s spokesman told Sputnik that police had arrested eight Spanish citizens who took part in the Ukrainian conflict. The ministry spokesman said that all the detainees were fighting “on the same side”, however he could not confirm nor specify whether they fought alongside Kiev forces or independence supporters.
The Committee’s representative called what happened this morning “a manifestation of double standards” since no Spanish citizens who fought alongside Kiev were arrested. The Spaniards returning from Ukraine are accused of being involved in murder, the possession of weapons and explosives and acts against the interests of Spain abroad.
Rivas said that these accusations “have nothing to do with reality.”
The Interior Ministry has provided the initials of detainees, which are R.M.P, A.A.M., A.I.B, S.B.V., A.R.S., B.L.M., H.A.P. and D.S.A.
The eight were detained at 05:30 GMT on Friday during a raid that took place in several different regions across Spain — Asturias, Catalonia, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia and Navarre.
An armed conflict broke out in Ukraine’s southeast last April, after Kiev launched a military operation against the region’s pro-independence movement.
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Spanish suspects held for ‘joining rebels’
Police have arrested eight Spaniards accused of fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. The suspects were detained in raids in six regions across Spain, the interior ministry said, describing the operation as the first of its kind in Europe. They face charges of complicity in murder, possession of weapons and violating Spain’s neutrality in the conflict.
Rebels have been fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine since April.
The eight Spanish fighters were arrested after returning recently from Ukraine where they took part in the conflict in the Donbas region last year, the interior ministry said. During their stay, the suspects posted pictures of themselves on social media with assault rifles and explosives.
“This is the first police operation conducted in Europe against the activities of foreign fighters in the Ukrainian conflict,” the ministry said.
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Spain arrests eight men on suspicion of fighting for rebels in Ukraine, by Raphael Minder, New York Times, Feb. 27, 2015
