The head of the office Carles PuigdemontJosep Lluis Alayhas denied this Wednesday that he contacted authorities of Armeniain addition to Russia, to collect props to the ‘procés’, according to what EL PERIÓDICO has learned from sources familiar with this management. In a interview in RAC1, Alay has admitted the meetings, but has assured that his interviews and trips to Moscow were limited to the usual explanations about the political situation in Catalonia that he also carried out with other countries.
Alay did not only turn to Alexander Dmitrenkohere in the government stands as a collaborator of the russian intelligence serviceto try to gather support in Russia for the ‘procés’ but also in Armenia, something that Puigdemont’s collaborator has denial: “If we wanted to talk to armenian representatives we didn’t need Russia, we could speak directly with them” and what they did, he stressed, “was to explain what was happening in Catalonia”, as they had done on other occasions with other governments.
international contacts
“Yes I went to Moscow in 2019 but it was by no means to open a channel of communication with the Kremlin. On that trip she represented ‘president’ Puigdemont and traveled alone. Once there I am with Dmitrenkowho lives in Catalonia and speaks Catalan, but I have no idea if he has contacts with the Russian secret services“, he recounted in the same radio interview and then recalled that at that time there were many international contacts because there was interest in what was happening in Catalonia.
A few months later he returns to Moscowin June of that same year, to participate in a university act that is not public.
Russian media
“Is a falsehood that I ask for support from Moscow in the event that Catalonia was independent. The Russian media ask to speak with the ‘president’, just like those of other countries. My goal was to explain the political situation of Catalonia, whether in Chile, India or Russia”, he described, and insisted: “I have had absolutely no contact with Russia to get it to support Catalonia. Has no sense. I explain the situation in Catalonia from my point of view: I do not represent Catalonia, I say what I think and I have not asked to have no contact with president PutinI am overrated”
Regarding the information about your participation in a meal at the Haddock restaurant from Barcelona, Alay has minimized the meeting and has assured that he only went to “say hello for half an hour” because they were people he had met in Russia through Dmitrenko, out of deference.
“I do not regret”
In June 2019 the visit is private, although the one in March of that same year had been to have contact with the media. The next trip, in February 2020, is also private, not as head of Puigdemont’s office. On that occasion, Alay travels for a weekend to meet a couple who had ‘The Americans’
“We have never asked for Russian support to support an independent Catalonianeither I nor the ‘president’ Puigdemont”. I have maintained contact with some of these people but I do not I regret. The narrative that we are trying to destabilize the European Union with our contacts is a absolute fantasy. Russia is a great power and Catalonia is very far from that”, she stressed.
appeal to responsibility
Alay He has also responded to the statements made by the ERC spokesman in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, assuring that they did surprise him: “They have been very unfair words that also come from an independence leader and give rise to making the fantasy created by the Civil Guard, the CNI and some judges”. The head of the office has recalled that he has not yet returned two mobiles that were seized at the time.
About Rufián, he assured: “I will keep silentI do not want to add fuel to the fire, I will not attack the independence movement, I appeal to the responsibility of the leaders of the independence parties. No one from ERC has contacted me in all this time, I have felt very alone by ERC”, he has complained. However, he has preferred not to respond to the convenience or not of break the government pact between ERC and Junts for the statements of the Republican deputy. “I do not enter party politics or regional politics and I cannot disassociate myself from my position as head of the office of the ‘president’: in my spirit is to do everything possible to maintain the union of the independence movement.”
seek recognition
One of the priority objectives for the Government of Puigdemont during the ‘procés’ was to try to contact the authorities of as many countries as possible to obtain support for a hypothetical independent Catalonia, so that if secession occurred, it would be recognized as a sovereign state. The independence movement opened different ways to bring this mission to fruition. Hence not only Alay’s 2019 and 2020 trips to Russia (two of them with Dmitrenko), but also the contacts they had in that country confidence men de Puigdemont, as Víctor Terradellas, former secretary of international relations of the extinct Convergència.
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Alay has recalled in the same interview that Meet Terradellas for many years and that he had worked a great deal on matters related to the humanitarian aid.
Puigdemont wants to return
asked about the future of the ‘president’ Puigdemont, pending the judicial resolutions, Alay has revealed that he intends to return to Catalonia but has not specified more.