According to official information from the Interior Ministry of Spain, the Spanish law enforcement bodies launched an operation on June 17 code-named Avispa (Wasp) to end the illegitimate activities of international criminal groups on the country's Mediterranean coast.
Spanish law enforcement bodies are particularly targeting criminal groups from former Soviet republics engaged in money laundering in Spain, the Foreign Ministry explained.
Spain said it was the largest operation in Europe against the so-called Russian mafia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said 22 people had been arrested in the operation.
The Spanish authorities have not disclosed any information on the detainees and their citizenship, saying that it was not in the interests of the investigation. Therefore, the Russian Foreign Ministry said neither the Russian Embassy in Madrid nor the General Consulate in Barcelona had received any official confirmation from Spain that Russian citizens were among the suspects. In addition, no requests for consulate assistance to be provided to any of the detainees had been received.
"Unofficial reports suggest that there are citizens of various countries among the suspects, including people from Georgia and other CIS states, and also citizens of Spain," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. According to available information, the ministry added, some detainees presented Russian passports. The relevant Spanish bodies are currently verifying this information.
"Comments from the Spanish Interior Ministry and media reports indicate that the term 'the Russian mafia' is a convention and is applied to members of criminal groups from various republics of the former Soviet Union and from Central and East Europe," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry added: "Spain has not sent a single official inquiry to Russia on checking whether the detained persons belong to Russian criminal groups."
"Therefore, the Russian Embassy in Spain has drawn the attention of the Spanish side to the need to use terminology correctly to avoid creating a negative image of Russian citizens," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
