In a provocative tone and between laughs, Pablo Iglesias puffed out his chest in a tweet on April 24, and announced with satisfaction that Network Channelthe television promoted by him, had occupied the DTT frequency on which it previously broadcast 7NN, a station that he defined as “facha” and linked to “the Francisco Franco Foundation”. “I hope there are no heart attacks in the Barrio de Salamanca or in La Moraleja,” he stated, satisfied, toasting with a bottle of Coca Cola, a joke addressed to Marcos de Quintoformer representative of Ciudadanos, former vice president of the North American multinational soft drink company and businessman behind whom the extinct television project was located.
But, ideologies aside, a common link, which seems to go unnoticed by the former vice president of the Government in this television outing, links the two stations: both have, in their list of collaborators, the two most prominent figures linked to Russian propaganda in Spain , (or that, at least, they have been in the past), that is to say liu shivaya and Inna Afinogenova.
The first, with more than 160,000 followers on Twitter and a YouTube channel with 200,000 additional fans, constantly travels through the territories of Ukraine in the hands of Russia, sending videos in Spanish praising the occupation and always making geopolitical analyzes in favor of Russia, although yes, somewhat crude and rudimentary from the point of view of propaganda. The second, with a similar audience on YouTube although more than twice as large on Twitter, carries the message, under the mantra of pacifism, that it is necessary to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, since invaders and invaded are comparable, and criticizes with silk glove, some of the most painful realities in their country of origin, such as the authoritarianism of Putin or the homophobia of State.
very different manners
In recent times, Sivaya’s histrionics has been falling in price compared to the soft manners of Afinogenova, who has a kinder public image and, a priori, capable of impacting a larger audience. And for Putin’s Russia, the ideology never been a problem. Over the past few years, the Kremlin has proven capable of influencing and rallying support on both sides of the political spectrum of any nation, both on the far-left and on the far-right. A good example of this is neighboring France, where before the invasion of Ukraine, Marine LePenof the extreme right, and Jean-Luc Melenchonleader of the leftist formation La Francia Insumisa, openly proclaimed their sympathies and understanding of the Kremlin.
Or Germany, where Putin’s Russia generated support both in the ultra party Alternative for Germany (UdF) as in the leftist formation Die Linke. “Cynicism and ideological self-confidence are hallmarks of the Kremlin, which fishes in all waters to spread its influence throughout the world: the extreme right, adoring its obscurantist social values, and the extreme left, entranced by its hollow speeches about its legitimate fight against Western capitalist aggression,” he explained to EL PERIÓDICO Carmen Claudinprincipal investigator of the Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB) and daughter of the historic leader of Spanish communism, Fernando Claudin.
Company linked to Roures
According to the commercial register, Melancholic Filmsthe company that has registered the Canal Red brand, on April 24 was in the name of Teia Roures Cerverabusinessman’s daughter Jaume Roures. In the past, this Catalan businessman has had dealings with Russian businessmen through Victor Tarradellas, former leader of the CDC and a character who traveled to Moscow on several occasions at the height of the ‘procés’, among other things to offer recognition of Crimea in exchange for recognition of an independent Catalonia. This group of Russian businessmen was studying “participating in communication issues”, was willing to invest between 100 and 300 million euros and wanted to “place a person at the first level”, as included in the court order of the case that was investigating the diversion of funds to pay the expenses of the ‘expresident’ Carlos Puigdemont at Waterloo.
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The equidistance that Afinogenova proclaims for the conflict in Ukraine is left aside when she addresses CoffeeInnathe space presented by her, other current international issues, where she shows a bias markedly anti-western and especially unamerican. In one of his last speechesaddressed the subject of armies of mercenaries, dedicating the initial part of the space to the Russian militia Wagner and avoiding mentioning the most controversial aspects of the militia, such as its leader’s past as a convicted criminal, Yevgeny Prigozhinas well as the chilling exemplary executions of deserters recorded on video, or the torture inflicted on prisoners in the war theaters where he performs.
Immediately afterwards, Afinogenova equipped this private Russian Army with Blackwater, the American group, and highlighted their most controversial performances in Latin America. Experts who closely follow Russian influence and disinformation campaigns believe that it is a way of spreading “hostility towards the US among the population of Latin American origin residing in Spain.” According to data from Statistics National InstituteIn our country, since 2021, the number of Hispanic people with the right to vote in an electoral consultation has grown by 21%. CaféInna, from the former deputy director of the RT website, is undoubtedly one of the highlights of Canal Red, which has even put a series of coffee cups with the program’s logo on sale on its web sales portal, latiendarepublicana.com.