The Economist - UK (2022-05-07)

The Economist May 7th 2022 Europe 33

Spain

Bugging out

F

or weeks Spanish headlines have

trumpeted a scandal known as Catalan­

Gate. In April the New Yorkerand the Citi­

zen Lab, an ngoat the University of Toron­

to,  revealed  that  the  phones  of  at  least  67

people, nearly all associated with the Cata­

lan separatist movement, had been infect­

ed with spyware, mainly a program called

Pegasus.  They  included  Catalonia’s  four

most recent regional presidents. 

Then on May 2nd government officials

announced  that  the  phones  of  Pedro  Sán­

chez,  the  prime  minister,  and  Margarita

Robles, the defence minister, had also been

infected with Pegasus in 2021. Mr Sánchez

is  the  first  national  leader  confirmed  to

have been a victim of the spyware. In both

cases  the  infected  devices  were  govern­

ment­issued, and periodically screened for

security threats—unsuccessfully. A day lat­

er  it  turned  out  that  Arancha  González

Laya,  a  former  foreign  minister,  had  been

bugged too.

No  one  knows  who  was  responsible.

Pegasus is made by nso, an Israeli compa­

ny, which sells it only to government enti­

ties.  It  grants  virtually  complete  access  to

the  infected  phone,  including  the  camera

and  microphone  as  well  as  messages  and

files.  Infection  can  come  via  a  link  or,  in

some  cases,  with  “zero­click”  attacks  that

require nothing of the phone’s user.

Initially, CatalanGate made the Spanish

government look bad. Pere Aragonès, Cata­

lonia’s  president,  was  infected  twice,  and

the attackers seemed to know what his po­

litical concerns were. In late 2019 and early

2020  his  erc,  a  separatist  party,  was  deal­

ing  with  Mr  Sánchez  over  a  vote  to  back  a

minority  government.  The  second  infec­

tion came via a contaminated link to an ar­

ticle about Mr Sánchez’s negotiating posi­

tion. The ercabstained in the vote, allow­

ing the government to take its seats. 

Mr  Aragonès  has  since  taken  part  in  a

dialogue with the government to move on

from the crisis in 2017 over an unconstitu­

tional  independence  referendum.  He  and

other  Catalan  nationalists  feel  betrayed,

and  are  demanding  answers.  Those

snooped  on  included  not  only  politicians

but activists, journalists and even spouses.

Many suspect the cni, Spain’s foreign and

domestic intelligence service.

A spokesman for nsosaid the company

had  seen  no  details  of  the  Spanish  allega­

tions,  but  that  monitoring  politicians,  ac­

tivists  or  journalists  would  be  “a  severe

misuse” ofits software. The company’s

websitesaysitstoolsareusedtohelpgov­

ernmentsfight“terrorismandcrime”.But

Amnesty Internationalclaimed lastyear

thatover 180 journalistsandmanypoliti­

cianshadbeentargeted,thoughitwasun­

surewhichattackshadbeensuccessful.

nsoisknowntoselltoWestern­allied

autocracies.MoroccoandSpainwereina

diplomaticrowatthetimeoftheminis­

ters’ buggings, butthere isno evidence

that Moroccowas theperpetrator. Until

lastweek,MsRobleswasdefendingthe

cni. Ina fierystatementinCongress,she

asked:“Whatisa state,a government,sup­

posedtodo,whensomeoneviolatesthe

constitution,declaresindependence?”—as

theCatalanseparatistshad.Thatwasbe­

foreherownphonewasfoundbugged.A

spokeswomanfortheCatalangovernment

saidwrylythat“nowthereisanurgency

thattherewasn’tbefore.”n

M ADRID

Spyware hits both the prime minister

and Catalan separatists

Moldova

The next target?

M

aia sandu, Moldova’s soft­spoken,

pro­European  president,  seems  out

of  place  in  her  country’s  vast  presidential

palace. It was built in the 1980s to show off

the Soviet Union’s authority in the second­

smallest  of  its  republics.  When  the  union

collapsed  and  Moldova  became  indepen­

dent,  Russia  backed  a  rebellion  in  its

Transnistria  region.  Russian  troops  re­

main in the breakaway statelet. Now Rus­

sia’s war in Ukraine is threatening Moldo­

va, one of Europe’s poorest countries. 

This,  Ms  Sandu  tells  The Economist,  is

Moldova’s  most  dangerous  moment  since

independence. On April 22nd Rustam Min­

nekaev, a Russian general, said control ov­

er southern Ukraine would open up a route

to Transnistria, where he claimed Russian­

speakers  were  being  oppressed.  “These

were  worrying  words,’‘  says  Ms  Sandu,

“after we’ve seen what is happening in Uk­

raine.” Three days later an explosion dam­

aged  the  state­security  ministry  in  Tiras­

pol,  the  separatists’  self­proclaimed  capi­

tal. The following day two more explosions

wrecked  antennae  used  by  Russian  radio.

Russia  has  a  history  of  “false­flag”  opera­

tions as a pretext for assaults. 

If Moldova joined nato, that might de­

ter  Russia,  but  applying  to  join  would  be

provocative.  “The  moment  we  ask,  the

bombs could start to fall,” says an official.

“We  are  trying  to  do  our  best  to  keep  the

country  out  of  the  war,”  says  Ms  Sandu.

Moldova’s tiny army has no combat planes

or helicopters; its only tanks are on display

as memorials. 

An  invasion  does  not  seem  imminent.

The  1,500  Russian  soldiers in  the  break­

away statelet are poorly equipped. Russia’s

main forces in Ukraine would need to drive

almost 200km west to reach Moldova. 

A  more  immediate  threat  is  Russian­

engineered social and economic chaos. Ms

Sandu is a former World Bank adviser and

corruption­fighter whose election in 2020

was a rebuke to the Kremlin’s kleptocratic

model of governance. The man she defeat­

ed, the pro­Russian Igor Dodon, now leads

the opposition.Russia supplies almost all

of  the  country’s  gas.  Prices  have  risen  by

380%  in  less  than  ten  months,  says  the

president. Roughly 80% of Moldova’s elec­

tricity comes from generators in Transnis­

tria.  The  power  company,  which  is  Rus­

sian­owned,  has  refused  to  grant  long­

term  contracts.  Moldova’s  lights  would

have  gone  out  on  May  1st  had  the  govern­

ment not secured a one­month deal.

The government subsidises energy, but

risks going bust as a result. Ms Sandu has

asked  the  eufor  €300m  ($315m)  to  tide  it

over until the end of the year. That has yet

to  come  through.  New  power  lines  to  Ro­

mania are a couple of years from comple­

tion.  “Russian  political  forces  in  Moldova

have  already  been  talking  about  massive

protests and have been calling for the gov­

ernment to step down,” says Ms Sandu.

Besides  money,  she  is  asking  for  sol­

idarity.  A  week  after  Russia  invaded  Uk­

raine, Moldova applied to join the eu. The

government promptly answered the list of

366 questions the eusent, Ms Sandu says,

only to be hit with another 2,000 queries.

Membership  would  take  many  years.  But

being  recognised  as  a  candidate  would

send  a  signal  that  the  country  belongs  in

the  West,  she  says:  “Theeuis  the  place

which can provide safetyandhelp save us

as a democratic country.”n

CHISINAU

Trying to stay out of Russia’s crosshairs

Appealing to Europe, hopefully