2022 Spain letter bomb attacks | |
---|---|
Location | Madrid and Zaragoza, Spain |
Date | 24 November 2022 - 1 December 2022 |
Target | Pedro Sánchez, Instalaza, Ukrainian and American embassies, Torrejón Air Base, Ministry of Defence |
Attack type | Letter bombing |
Deaths | 0 |
Injured | 1 |
Perpetrators | Unknown |
In late November and early December 2022, a number of letter bombs were mailed to locations across Spain. Packages were received at high-profile individuals and locations, including the Prime Minister of Spain's Moncloa residence, the Ukrainian and U.S. embassies in Madrid, Torrejon Air Base, and the arms manufacturer Instalaza. One person was injured in the attacks—a security officer at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid.
On 24 November 2022, a letter bomb, addressed to the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez, arrived at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain. The bomb was destroyed in a controlled explosion, with no injuries reported. [1] [2]
On 30 November 2022, further letter bombs were mailed. The first was mailed to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, exploding when a security officer opened it in the garden of the embassy, leaving a "very small wound" on one finger. [3] [4] Arms manufacturer Instalaza, in Zaragoza, received a similar package hours later. [2] [5] [6]
On 1 December 2022, before dawn, another letter bomb was intercepted after being detected by a scanner, at the Torrejon Air Base near Madrid. The package was addressed to the European Union Satellite Centre at the base. [2] On the same day, an additional letter bomb was received at the Defence Ministry and was defused. [1] A sixth letter bomb was sent to the US embassy in Madrid and was intercepted at around 12.30 pm local time. [7] It was subsequently "safely detonated." [8] [2]
Each of the letter bombs were reportedly similar, in brown envelopes addressed to the heads of each institution. The devices consisted of loose gunpowder with an electrical ignition mechanism, resulting in a burning, rather than exploding effect. [1]
An official, Rosa Serrano, told radio station SER that the packages sent to both the Ukrainian embassy and Instalaza had the same return address. [2]
In response to the letter bomb attacks, Spanish authorities increased security measures at public and diplomatic buildings. [1] [9] The Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba ordered that the security of all Ukrainian embassies be increased, and urged Spain to investigate the attack. [3] Spain's High Court was reported to have opened an investigation for a possible case of terrorism. [10]
In December 2022, Spanish authorities disclosed they believed the letters were postmarked from the city of Valladolid. [11]
According to a January 2023 New York Times report citing unnamed U.S. officials, Spanish investigators and their Western foreign counterparts have come to believe that the letter bomb attacks were perpetrated by the Russian Imperial Movement acting on behalf of Russian intelligence. [12] U.S. officials had also suspected Russian military intelligence officers of directing associates of a white supremacist militant group to carry out the attacks. [13]
On 26 January 2023, a 74-year-old Spanish citizen was arrested by Spanish police on suspicion of sending the letter bombs. The Spanish Interior Ministry reported that there were no indications of any association with far-right organizations or Russia. They stated that they believed the suspect was responsible for making and sending all six letter bombs himself, but that the possibility of "participation or influence of other people" was not ruled out. [13]
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2004th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 4th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2000s decade.
A letter bomb is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in terrorist attacks such as those of the Unabomber. Some countries have agencies whose duties include the interdiction of letter bombs and the investigation of letter bombings. The letter bomb may have been in use for nearly as long as the common postal service has been in existence, as far back as 1764.
The Palace of Moncloa or Moncloa Palace is the official residence and workplace of the President of the Government, a position usually known in the English language as the Prime Minister of Spain. It is located in Puerta de Hierro Avenue, in the Moncloa-Aravaca district in Madrid. It has been the official residence of the Prime Minister since 1977, when Adolfo Suárez moved the residence from the Palace of Villamejor.
The Instalaza C90 is a 90 mm disposable, shoulder-fired and one-man operated rocket-propelled grenade launcher (RPG) which can be fitted with a VN38-C night vision device for full night combat capability. It is being used as an infantry-type weapon, with Instalaza also claiming it to be the, "lightest infantry weapons system in its class".
The United States officially recognized the independence of Ukraine on December 25, 1991. The United States upgraded its consulate in the capital, Kyiv, to embassy status on January 21, 1992. In 2002, relations between the United States and Ukraine deteriorated after one of the recordings made during the Cassette Scandal revealed an alleged transfer of a sophisticated Ukrainian defense system to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Relations between Ukraine and the United Kingdom have existed in one form or another since Ukrainian independence in 1991. The two countries have ties across political, military, social and economic spheres. The UK hosts up to 200,000 Ukrainian refugees giving it the sixth largest Ukrainian migrant population in Europe.
The State of Israel is represented in the Russian Federation through an embassy in Moscow and a consulate-general in Yekaterinburg. Russia is represented in Israel through an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Haifa. Russia is a member of the Quartet on the Middle East. For many years, Israel was a haven for Russian Jews. This was especially the case during the aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1990s. Israel and the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor state, were on opposing sides during the Cold War. However, the relationship between Israel and Russia has improved significantly since the early 2000s, with the election of the more pro-Israel Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the election of the more pro-Russia Israeli leader Ariel Sharon. Putin has had a close relationship with long-serving Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Russia–Slovenia relations are foreign relations between Russia and Slovenia. Both countries established diplomatic relations on May 25, 1992. Russia has an embassy in Ljubljana. Slovenia has an embassy in Moscow and two honorary consulates. Until 2022, Russia had five honorary consuls in Slovenia, but Slovenia withdrew its consent to the appointments due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Relations between Spain and Ukraine were established in January 1992, some time after the Ukrainian independence. Spain is a member of the European Union, which Ukraine applied for in 2022. Both nations are members of the Council of Europe.
The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances comprises three substantially identical political agreements signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary, on 5 December 1994, to provide security assurances by its signatories relating to the accession of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The three memoranda were originally signed by three nuclear powers: Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom. China and France gave somewhat weaker individual assurances in separate documents.
Instalaza SA is a Spanish firm that designs, develops and manufactures equipment and other military material for infantry. The company, founded in 1943, is headquartered in Zaragoza, Aragon, where its production plant is also located.
The Informal Anarchist Federation is an insurrectionary anarchist organization. It has been described by Italian intelligence sources as a "horizontal" structure of various anarchist groups, united in their beliefs in revolutionary armed action. Groups and individuals comprising the FAI act both as separate organizations and also under the FAI, and are known to format group campaigns. The FAI notably shares similar aims and ideals with Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, the two often working in solidarity with each other, the SPF being known to announce solidarity with FAI in their communiques. The group has its roots in Italy, but, since 2012, has begun executing attacks in various countries across the world.
The Embassy of Canada to Ukraine in Kyiv is the diplomatic mission of Canada to Ukraine.
Anita Indira Anand is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the president of the Treasury Board since July 2023. She has represented the riding of Oakville in the House of Commons since the 2019 federal election, sitting as a member of the Liberal Party.
José Manuel Albares Bueno is a Spanish diplomat who has been serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation in the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez since 2021.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid is the diplomatic mission of Ukraine in Spain. The embassy building is located at Ronda de la Abubilla 52 in Madrid. The Ukrainian ambassador to Spain has been Serhiy Pohorelzew since 2020.
On 9 March 2022, the Russian Air Force bombed Maternity Hospital No 3, a hospital complex functioning both as a children's hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring at least sixteen, and leading to at least one stillbirth.
The 2022 Madrid summit was a meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of the thirty members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their partner countries, and the European Union, held in Madrid, Spain, on 29–30 June 2022. Spain previously hosted a NATO Summit in 1997.