One of the two National Intelligence Center (CNI) agents arrested last September after it was revealed that they had been captured by the CIA was the head of a particularly sensitive branch of Spanish intelligence: that of Russia. He is a prominent analyst, a career Marine and a long career in intelligence, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The arrest of the person most responsible for information about Russia caused a great shock at the CNI, as there had not been revelations at such a high level since the Perote case almost three decades ago. The former sailor, an experienced agent and over 50 years old, is the only one of the two detainees who remains in preventive detention as the other, his subordinate, has been provisionally released under charges.
The sources interviewed indicate that, despite the fact that the United States and Spain are close allies and the CNI and the CIA cooperate in operations against Russian espionage on Spanish territory and abroad, the US authority is seeking information beyond what is available He was regularly informed via official channels about the Spanish secret service's actual level of knowledge about Russian networks and what connections he still had with Moscow. The CNI area against Russia, which the prisoner was in charge of, had acquired particular importance after the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, which led to the imposition of several rounds of sanctions by the EU and an increase in the colony of Russian citizens in Spain, where it is now there are over 80,000 people. In this context of a new Cold War, on February 13, in Villajoyosa (Alicante), there was the assassination of the Russian deserter Maxim Kuzmínov, who had fled to Ukraine in an attack helicopter, a crime that the Spanish intelligence attributed to the Kremlin; or the death of the Russian tycoon Sergei Protosenya and his family under strange circumstances in April 2022 in Lloret de Mar (Girona), behind which the hand of the Moscow secret services can also be seen.
In any case, secret service experts explain, the assumption of command of Spanish espionage was not just aimed at its current area of responsibility. Such an operation requires years of action until the target's trust is gained, they add. The previous head of the Russian region was stationed in the United States and requested a leave of absence to work for a North American multinational earlier this decade. It is believed that at this moment the CIA was able to test it and learn of its vulnerabilities.
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After his reinstatement in the CNI, the naval officer – employed as a frigate captain, according to some sources – took over the management of the Russia division, a third step in the Spanish intelligence hierarchy. However, his recruiters' interest was not limited to the area he headed, but rather he was looking for a mole in the CNI from whom he could in the future request all the information available to the center. It was precisely the attempt to obtain documents that did not correspond to his area of work that raised alarms in the security department, according to the same sources.
The CNI applies the “need-to-know” principle, according to which agents should only have access to classified information necessary for their work. The case of Roberto Flórez – the spy accused in 2007 of appropriating secret documents in order to sell them to Moscow for $200,000 – led to a tightening of internal controls that allowed unlawful access to classified information uncovered and motivated the initiation of an internal investigation. the last summer.
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After this was completed, the CNI filed a complaint with the public prosecutor's office. The head of the 22nd Instructional Court of Madrid, which was the subject of the case, ordered the arrest of the head of the Russian zone and his subordinate in September, although the latter was provisionally released after claiming that he was only responsible for the execution of Instructions are limited by his superior. On the contrary, the former sailor remains in temporary detention in Estremera prison (Madrid), which has an area reserved for members of the State Security Forces and State Security Corps and prison officials.
The searches ordered by the judge made it possible to seize a large amount of classified information about Russia that was provided to the CIA. The investigation, which remains classified, must clarify whether the leadership of the Spanish secret service acted only to gain the favor of the US secret service for their professional future within or outside the CNI; or if he received additional large sums of money for it. This information could lead to the agents being charged only with the crime of disclosing secrets, punishable by up to three years in prison under Article 417 of the Penal Code; or with treason, provided for in 584, punishable by up to 12 years in prison for “a Spaniard who, with intent to favor a foreign power […] Information classified as confidential or secret and likely to endanger national security or defense is sought, falsified, rendered unusable or disclosed.” In 2010, the Provincial Court of Madrid sentenced Roberto Flórez to twelve years in prison for treason, although the Supreme Court reduced the sentence to nine years.
The discovery that two CNI agents had been captured by the CIA sparked diplomatic tensions between Madrid and Washington. Defense Secretary Margarita Robles summoned U.S. Ambassador to Spain Julissa Reynoso to her office to express her displeasure at an action seen as hostile and inappropriate between allied countries. The North American diplomat not only apologized and attributed the capture of the Spanish spies to a secret Trump administration program that was maintained without her knowledge.
The State Department decided to expel three CIA agents stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid who were involved in recruiting CNI members, but Washington discreetly removed them. The two governments were determined to keep the crisis secret to prevent it from affecting their relations. “The United States and Spain are friendly countries, partners, allies,” Robles said when the case broke last December. “If there are issues that could have an impact, they will be discussed and dealt with, but this will not affect our relationships,” he added.
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