Malicious fiction: Spain demands proof of Russia's connection to the crisis in Ceuta
The head of Ceuta and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain went to Brussels to ask the EU for help in combating the migration crisis. It escalated a month ago after a massive border breach, the organizers of this action have not yet been identified. Earlier, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that before the assault, disinformation was spread online by accounts allegedly linked to Russia and Israel. The Spanish intelligence services have not confirmed this version. Javier Zelaya Bray, a congressional deputy from Ceuta, in an interview with Izvestia, called on the government to provide clear evidence of an external trace. In his opinion, Madrid will have to reconsider its conclusions if the information about the involvement of Moroccan security forces in the breakthrough is confirmed.
Ceuta asks for help from Brussels
Spain wants to get from the European Union more active participation in the resolution of the crisis in Ceuta and assistance with the return of migrants to Morocco. At the same time, Madrid has already requested additional support from the European border agency Frontex.
President of Ceuta Juan Jose Vivas leads a protest over the crisis in Ceuta after a press conference at the European Parliament on September 8, 2026 in Brussels
On September 8, the head of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, held talks in Brussels with the leadership of the European Parliament, as well as with European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner and European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Shuica. On the same day, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares met with the same European commissioners in the Belgian capital.
A month has passed since more than 70,000 people broke through from Morocco to Ceuta. Most of the illegal immigrants later returned back, but several thousand people still remained in the city. As a result, the Spanish exclave, located directly opposite the Strait of Gibraltar, faced a surge in crime, and its infrastructure was on the verge of collapse.
This crisis immediately split the European Union. The leaders of 22 states demanded an urgent discussion of the situation. In their opinion, Madrid itself provoked the influx of migrants. Since the beginning of the year, Spain has stepped up the legalization of newcomers, massively issuing them residence permits. As a result, after the border was breached, France and Italy even introduced selective passport control at the borders with the kingdom.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks at a meeting of the parliament in Madrid.
In response, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tried to shift the blame to external forces. On August 31, he said that before storming the border, fakes about the Spanish migration policy were spread on social networks. According to the prime minister, accounts allegedly linked to Russia and Israel are involved in this campaign. In particular, they argued that Madrid had weakened border controls, and the recent decision of the Spanish Supreme Court actually simplifies the legalization of migrants in Ceuta.
Sanchez's words raised questions, including from parliamentarians inside the country. Javier Zelaya Bray, a member of Congress from Ceuta, told Izvestia that if the prime minister makes such accusations, the government must provide clear evidence. If the involvement of Moroccan security forces in the crisis is confirmed, Madrid will have to completely reconsider its statements.
— I have no doubt that the Israeli government is satisfied with the crisis in Ceuta that Sanchez is facing because of the pro-Palestinian position of the socialist government, but this does not mean that it was in any way involved in what is happening. As for Russia, I don't see how it could benefit from intervening in the crisis in Ceuta, since both Morocco and Spain are allies of the United States. Although she might have an interest in destabilizing an EU member state," the MP said.
The Russian authorities have nothing to do with the massive influx of migrants to Spanish Ceuta, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called Sanchez's statements a brazen and shameless lie. In his opinion, the Spanish prime minister is trying to use external enemies to solve internal problems: the spread of such fakes is just an attempt by Sanchez to distract public attention from his own "shameful failure." in the management of the state and the migration crisis.
Stanislav Tkachenko, professor of the Department of European Studies at St. Petersburg State University, is also confident that the accusations against Russia and Israel help Sanchez shift the focus from miscalculations in migration policy to external players. According to him, among the European leftists, these countries are traditionally perceived as states whose line is at odds with the generally accepted approaches in the EU, which makes them a convenient target for criticism in crisis conditions.
Sanchez, speaking to Congress on September 3, admitted that the intelligence services had failed to confirm the connection of those accounts with the authorities of Russia or Israel, and added that the crisis could be the result of a combination of a number of independent factors.
Who was behind the crisis in Ceuta
A report by the Center for Immigration and Borders of the Spanish National Police (CENIF) should shed light on the situation. Excerpts from the document have already appeared in the press. Judging by the published data, the events of July 30-31 were not accidental: the authors of the report point to preliminary preparations and attempts by Moroccan law enforcement officers to send people to the border.
According to Spanish media, the document identifies dozens of Moroccan service personnel, both in uniform and in plain clothes, who were on the migrants' routes and, apparently, coordinated their movement. This information does not yet allow us to directly accuse Rabat of organizing the crisis. Nevertheless, this line raises questions even within the ruling coalition. Thus, representatives of the Sumar association, which is part of it, said that after the appearance of such data, it was premature to completely exclude the involvement of Morocco.
However, Sanchez said on September 3 that the Government had no solid evidence that Morocco had planned or carried out the mass transfer of people. Madrid's similar restraint is explained by its unwillingness to turn the dispute over Ceuta and Melilla into an open conflict and raise the stakes in relations with Rabat, Tkachenko believes. Morocco has long disputed Spain's rights to these territories. Sanchez's motives are simple: the Spanish authorities are afraid to turn this protracted territorial dispute into an open conflict and spoil the already fragile relations with their neighbor.
Rabat categorically rejected the accusations of deliberately relaxing border controls. The Moroccan Ministry of the Interior said that the massive border breach was caused solely by the actions of human trafficking networks and misinformation on social media, which misled migrants. The ministry stressed that the Moroccan security forces, on the contrary, actively tried to restrain the crowd and 11 people were killed during these clashes. At the same time, Morocco decided to recall its geopolitical ambitions. The kingdom's Justice Minister, Abdellatif Wahbi, publicly declared Rabat's "historical and geographical right" to Ceuta and Melilla, calling on Madrid to create a joint commission to discuss "the return of these cities to the bosom of their homeland."
For Ceuta herself, the debate about finding the culprits fades into the background. While politicians are discussing, migrants continue to stay in the Spanish exclave, staying in temporary and spontaneous camps on the outskirts and beaches. This provokes large-scale protests by the local population: on September 2, tens of thousands of people took to the streets, demanding the liquidation of settlements and speeding up the return of migrants. The crisis remains unresolved, and the authorities still do not have a clear plan of action. At the same time, the longer the situation drags on, the more Sanchez's position inside Spain is being shaken.
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