Spain Arrests 9 Men For Joining Russian-Backed Rebels to Fight In Ukraine

Eight men have been arrested in raids which have taken place across the Spain. 

Those arrested, the ministry said, recently returned to Spain after going to Ukraine last year to join pro-Russian troops around Luhansk and Donetsk. The ministry said that they had been identified partly by information that the eight had posted online, including photographs of themselves wearing paramilitary uniforms and training with explosives and assault rifles.

The fighters are likely to be charged with taking part in activities considered to be terrorism by Ukraine, the ministry said, including taking part in assassinations and carrying illegal weapons. The ministry also said that fighting in Ukraine could in itself amount to a violation of “the neutrality of Spain.”

The Local, a Spanish newspaper which publishes in English, adds that the men were sympathetic to communist and far-left ideologies:

Officers detained the eight suspects in six regions across Spain, the government said in a statement. A source close to the investigation described them as "pro-Russian" and far-left in ideology.

The Spanish suspects were said to be inspired by the International Brigades, the multinational volunteer forces that joined Republican forces to fight against Francisco Franco's uprising during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.The arrests took place in Asturias, Catalonia, Extremadura, Murcia, Navarra and Madrid.

The men, whose ages range between 20 and 30 years-old and were all affiliated with Communist organizations, received support from a pro-Russian European league, according to Spanish daily, El País.

Last summer two of the men posted this video, in English, where they claim that the news on Spanish and American TV is false. "Junta of Kiev are criminals," the men explain, as they claim that everyone fighting in Donetsk are just locals fighting for their own territory. "In this war information is very important and it is being controlled by the same people who are killing these people [the people of Donetsk]."