A senior Russian official on Sunday slammed Western governments for failing to condemn police violence in Catalonia.
At least 700 Catalonians were injured Sunday as Spanish police tried to prevent an independence referendum declared illegal by Spain’s central government.
“They called on [former Ukrainian president Viktor] Yanukovych with all their might to refrain from using force…we see here [in Catalonia] it’s exactly the opposite,” Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the Committee for International Affairs in the Federation Council, was cited as saying in Russian media.
“Not for the first time I see how the West is cynical and hypocritical.”
U.S. analysts and Spain’s leading daily El Pais expressed concern over Russian interference in the referendum. Russia’s ambassador to Spain contested the claims.