Morocco Shifts Closer to Russia, Adopts ’Hybrid War’ Tactics Against Spain

Morocco seems to be copying Vladimir Putin’s policy with its hybrid war strategy against Ceuta and Melilla, analyzes the journalist from El Espanol, recalling the invasion of migrants last May in Ceuta and the massive and violent assaults of migrants in recent days in Melilla. Morocco’s absence from the UN General Assembly that condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine has convinced the author of Morocco’s posture.

Morocco has adopted this hybrid strategy to put pressure on Spain so that it reviews its position on the Sahara and recognizes the Moroccanness of this territory, as the United States did under Donald Trump, the same source explains, stressing that security should not be the subject of blackmail and mistrust between countries supposed to maintain good neighborly relations.

However, the police cooperation in the fight against terrorism has withstood the crisis between Morocco and Spain, notes the author, who adds that the migration cooperation is considered "perfect" by the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, even if the CNI denounced the passivity of the Moroccan police during the recent migrant assaults in Melilla.

The minimum to be demanded of Morocco, in view of the Ukrainian crisis and the need to increase, at least in the short term, imports of Algerian gas, is absolute transparency in terms of security and defense, concludes the journalist who asks the kingdom to "stop playing the Putin on the border".