The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assumed the public account of theto Spanish position in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, after several days of ups and downs, which, they recognize in the Government, have been able to disturb public opinion. Both the announcement that Spain was bringing forward the departure of a Navy frigate to the Black Sea, in a context of absolute uncertainty, and the angry reaction of United We Can and its resurrection from the “Not to the war”.
Government sources admitted yesterday that, although the situation in the area is “worrying”, with more than 100,000 Russian soldiers deployed for a possible invasion of Ukraine, “cannot” transmit to the citizens who Europe and Spain are at the gates of an armed conflict. Because, they explain, it is a process with several phases. The first, the one that is being experienced right now, that of dialogue and diplomacy. The second, if this stage does not work, is the economic sanctions of the EU on Russia.
The Executive is conducting in recent days a explanation exercise to lower the fear of the Spanish, which has been fired since last week, and the appearance of the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, yesterday in Congress, who also asked the political groups to avoid “confusing” and “distressing” citizens with the possibility of war.
outdoor control
Moncloa has delegated the entire political response to the crisis to the Foreign Ministry and, from this Ministry, unified the message. First, it was necessary for the internal confrontation between the coalition partners to cease, something that was achieved thanks to the contacts maintained between the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, and the second vice president, Yolanda Diaz, and, on another level, between the Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanos, and the Minister of Social Rights and leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra.
At the gates of the beginning of the electoral campaign in Castilla y León, United We Can amplified its rejection of a greater involvement of Spain in NATO, taking advantage of the announcement of Margaret Oaks of the departure of the frigate and the next participation of fighters in an aerial police mission in Bulgaria, two actions that were previously committed. Executive sources recognized yesterday that the way in which the Minister of Defense made these two circumstances public was not the most appropriate.
“country of peace”
Yesterday the government spokesperson, Elizabeth Rodriguez, stressed that Spain “is a country of peace” and Minister Bolaños that “we are all committed to diplomacy, we are all in avoiding conflict and we are all (…) in the no to war”. The obvious consequence of this new fire between the PSOE and United We Can is suffocated is that yesterday there were no reviews from the purple spokesman to the Foreign Minister during his appearance.
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With this matter deactivated for the time being, Albares concentrated his efforts yesterday on demanding the unity of the political groups, in line with the cohesion of NATO and the European Union. He explained that the Spanish position is governed “by the 4 Ds: diplomacy, de-escalation, détente and dissuasion”. An idea that he constantly repeated yesterday, in different formulations. In this sense, he strongly questioned that the PP deputy, Valentina Martinez, alluded to a possible sending of troops to Spain because “we are not in that scenario, nobody is proposing it”. “Do not try to confuse the Spanish” or “foster their anguish” because the Government’s position is that “dialogue prevails.” “The war scenario is not on the table and that is what we want to avoid,” he stressed.
This is a reproach that he also made to other political groups. To Vox he claimed the “importance” of “not transferring” citizens who “we are placing ourselves” in an “irremediable” armed conflict. To other parties such as ERC, which called for the withdrawal of the military troops that our country has in the area from NATO missions, he explained that they are “peaceful” and that “Spain has been participating for years” in them. This is a topic he returned to several times. “The Spaniards cannot be unjustifiably alarmed,” he repeated. “Nothing is done that was not planned.” “We are not in a theater of war.”