The Spanish TV station has ruled out “external computer sabotage”, saying that an investigation is underway after an RT interview with former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont aired on its website. The state-owned TV station said that unidentified individuals shown Russia Today programmes on its website on 12 December.
The statement comes after Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan confirmed reports about an unusual broadcast on the Spanish TV channel.
"The hackers hacked Spanish +24 TV channel and turned on our broadcast instead of theirs. At the moment we were showing an interview with [Carles] Puigdemont, the top person in Catalonia's independence [movement]. We were on air the entire evening. We do not know who did it. Honestly. But, what I can say is that it was lovely", Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan wrote on 16 December on her Telegram channel.
A similar situation took place in the US in November of 2017, when instead of a live speech by US Congresswoman Maxine Waters on television network C-SPAN, viewers were shown an RT programme for 10 minutes. Several Western media outlets blamed Russian hackers for the incident.
On 14 October, the court sentenced nine pro-independence Catalan leaders to between 9 and 13 years in prison on sedition charges, and another three to fines for disobedience. Later that day, the court issued European and international arrest warrants for former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont. The rulings triggered mass protests across Catalonia that are still ongoing.
Puigdemont has been living in Belgium since leaving Spain following the Catalan independence referendum, which was organised by his government in October 2017. Madrid called the vote illegal and dissolved the Catalan parliament in response.