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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 29 OcTOber 2020
Spain: judge probes Catalan separatism links with Russia

By JOSEPH WILSON David Madi and Oriol Ven-
Associated Press drell, two former politicians
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) for Catalonia's major sepa-
— A judge in Barcelona is ratist parties. Puigdemont
probing possible links be- said on Twitter that Alay
tween some of the pro- and the others "must be im-
moters of Catalonia's 2017 mediately release(d). Act-
attempt to declare inde- ing against political dissi-
pendence from the rest of dents is a huge violation of
Spain with an alleged mis- fundamental rights."
information campaign and After the breakaway bid
overall effort to destabilize collapsed, Puigdemont fled
Europe that Spanish investi- Spain to Brussels, where he
gators link to Russia. has campaigned to raise
The probe authorized by support for his cause inter-
judge Joaquín Aguirre led nationally. Puigdemont is
on Wednesday to the arrest currently a European Par-
of 21 suspects on suspicions liament member.
of corruption and promot- Another detainee, Oriol
ing public disorder. Aguirre Soler, is a publisher who is
partly based the probe on considered one of the top
police evidence that pur- strategists of the separat-
ported Russian agents al- Demonstrators holding placards reading in Catalan "stop repression, Independence" take part in ist movement. He is being
legedly offered to provide a protest to condemn a police raid on Catalan separatists in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. investigated for allegedly
military aid to Catalan sep- 28, 2020. Associated Press meeting with Wikileaks
aratists at the height of their founder Julian Assange
failed secession bid in 2017. movement has always pro- geopolitical strategy was a Spain's interior ministry said and with Russian contacts
On the recording, one of claimed non-violent beliefs, fact during the fall of 2017 the individuals arrested on to promote the separatist
the detainees mentions an even though last year there when (the Russians) spread Wednesday were being cause and discredit Spain
offer by the alleged Russian were violent clashes with fake news and disinforma- investigated for alleged internationally.
agents to provide former police after several top tion," the judge said, citing embezzlement and mon- The court document said
Catalan president Carles leaders were sentenced to online items backing the ey laundering. Investiga- the alleged meeting be-
Puigdemont with 10,000 prison for their roles in the Catalan separatists spread tions revealed that money tween Soler and Assange
soldiers, apparently to help 2017 breakaway bid. by Russian news platforms. intended for Barcelona's in Sept. 2017 "falls within
in a theoretical armed con- Besides the putative mili- The Spanish government provincial government and the strategy of misinforma-
flict with Spanish authori- tary aid, the probe also tar- had accused Russia in 2017 a regional entity for pro- tion and destabilization in
ties. The court document gets the alleged misuse of of meddling in the Catalan moting sports teams had which the Kremlin has also
provided no indication that public funds for the sepa- conflict, a charge that Rus- been diverted illegally, the participated as part of its
the offer was ever consid- ratist movement in Spain as sian officials denied then. ministry said. Josep Lluís general narrative that the
ered by Puigdemont, nor well as the allegedly active There was no immediate Alay, a close collaborator European Union is on the
does it provide additional role of Russian-backed dis- reaction from Russian of- of Puigdemont who runs an brink of collapse, the prin-
evidence that the offer was information campaigns to ficials Wednesday about office of the ex-leader in cipal message of the news
even genuine, or feasible. discredit Spain. the probe authorized by Barcelona, was one of the outlets controlled by the
The Catalan separatist "Russian interference as a Aguirre. detained. Others included Kremlin." q

U.S., Israel extend science accords into West Bank settlements

the West Bank, a step that Israel captured the West Golan Heights, which was
further blurs the status of Bank and east Jerusalem in captured from Syria in the
settlements widely consid- the 1967 Mideast war, and 1967 war. In another rever-
ered illegal under interna- in the decades since have sal, the administration also
tional law. built dozens of settlements said the U.S. does not con-
Until now, three U.S.-Israe- that are now home to some sider settlements illegal.
li science cooperation 500,000 Israelis. The Pales- In a statement, the U.S.
agreements excluded proj- tinians seek the West Bank Embassy in Israel said that
ects in areas captured by and east Jerusalem as part "these geographic restric-
Israel in the 1967 Mideast of a future independent tions are no longer consis-
war — including the West state. Most of the interna- tent with U.S. policy," and
Bank, east Jerusalem and tional community considers that updating the agree-
the Golan Heights. Israeli settlements illegal un- ments to remove them "fur-
Israeli and American of- der international law and ther strengthens the special
ficials signed protocols supports the establishment bilateral relationship" be-
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, and amending the Binational of a Palestinian state based tween the two countries.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, second left, attend Industrial Research and De- on the 1967 boundaries. "This geographic restriction
a ceremony to sign amendments to a series of scientific velopment Foundation, the Breaking with decades of within the three agree-
cooperation agreements, at Ariel University, in the West Bank Binational Science Founda- American policy, the Trump ments was an anachro-
settlement of Ariel, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020.
Associated Press tion, and Binational Agricul- administration recognized nism, it had no place within
tural Research and Devel- Jerusalem as Israel's capital our evolving region," U.S.
JERUSALEM (AP) — The entific cooperation agree- opment Foundation at a and moved the U.S. Embas- Ambassador to Israel Da-
United States and Israel ments on Wednesday to ceremony in the West Bank sy there. It also recognized vid Friedman said at a cer-
amended a series of sci- include Israeli institutions in settlement of Ariel. Israeli sovereignty in the emony at Ariel University.q