The Spanish authorities did not allow Russian ships to anchor in the port of the autonomous city of Ceuta, El Pais newspaper reports. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom was against the large anti-submarine destroyer "Rear Admiral Kulakov" and "Altai" tugboat entering the port on August 18-20.
According to the periodical, the Spanish Ministry of Defense did not see any problem with anchoring of Russian ships in Ceuta. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom was ready to allow the ships’ anchoring, but asked Moscow about the next harbor of the Russian fleet.
The newspaper assumes that in this way the ministry wanted to avoid any conflict situation with the route of Russian ships.
In the spring of 2022, Madrid will host a summit of the heads of NATO member states, and, according to the analyst, Spain did not want to displease the alliance by accepting the ships of the Russian fleet.
After receiving no response from the Russian side, the Spanish Foreign Ministry denied the permission to anchor the ships.
