Spain's progressive writer Soto Ivars blames Barcelona riots on Russia, not migrants

Juan Soto Ivars claims on X that the Barcelona riots have "the look of a mind-blowing hybrid attack", citing new accounts and a profile called "blocus". It is a suspicion without evidence: he identifies no country, no funding and no author.

The writer **Juan Soto Ivars** posted on X that what peine in **Barcelona** "has the look of a mind-blowing hybrid attack". His argument: a call to action spread "at full throttle" on social media with new accounts, a profile called "blocus" and, suddenly, "a bunch of activated immigrants causing chaos". He ends up wondering whether it will ever be known "which foreign country with vodka or green tea it comes from". The post offers no evidence, no country, no funding, no authorship. It is a hypothesis thrown out in public.

## What a hybrid attack is and what proving one requires

NATO describes hybrid threats as coordinated actions combining military, economic, technological and disinformation pressure, below the threshold of armed conflict. Attributing street riots to a foreign state takes more than coincidences on social media: traces of funding, linked accounts, documented coordination. Without that, the label works as a suspicion, not a diagnosis. And a suspicion of this kind, thrown out without evidence, has consequences.

## The housing backdrop and the shift of blame

Context matters. Housing protests in Barcelona and other Spanish cities have escalated into riots and looting, with arrests and shops affected. Housing is a measurable economic problem: rents and the shortage of supply have been straining cities for years. Shifting the explanation to an alleged foreign instigator avoids discussing that. And it turns protesters into someone else's instruments, not citizens with a problem.

## Why the hypothesis does not stand on its own

That a call to action circulates on social media proves nothing: that is how any protest is organized today. That there are new accounts proves nothing either. The leap from "there are new accounts" to "it comes from a foreign country" is not covered by any evidence shown. Until it appears, the claim is an opinion with the tone of a report. And opinions do not pay rent or explain why a city burns.