MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. Spanish IT specialist and lecturer Enrique Arias Gil, who has been granted political asylum in Russia, told TASS about the persecution he faced in his home country.
"While I was studying [in Russia], Spanish police and journalists began to pursue me, accusing me of everything," he said in an interview with TASS. "Even at that time, I had already been persecuted for many years with various accusations."
"I was blackmailed, extorted, threatened, and followed, though at first only through the media, and using not my real first and last name, but the name I use on my channel," Arias continued. "Eventually, I was accused of espionage, sabotage, and many other things."
Arias Gil rejected the accusations attributed to him in Spain. "I know about the accusations against me only through the mass media," he told TASS. "I have no access to any court documents concerning me. Information about me has been published by media outlets in Spain, across Europe, in Africa, and in the United States. There have also been reports about me in some small Russian media. In general, everything I know at this point is what hundreds and hundreds of different sources have passed on to journalists. Essentially, I know only thanks to the media."
"As for the threats that exist against me in Spain if I were to return there: judges at the National Court, the only judicial body in Spain whose jurisdiction extends across the entire country, have issued a warrant for my arrest abroad because I am now on Europol’s list of most wanted individuals," Arias continued. "I face prison sentences for espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, disinformation, and many other things that are now being attributed to me."
"Since the end of September 2025, Member of Parliament Maria Butina asked the Russian Interior Ministry to initiate my legalization in the Russian Federation, and overall I am currently in the process of this," he added.
He also noted that there is more freedom of speech in Russia than in Spain. "In Spain, I was persecuted for what I spoke about, and what I continue to speak about, but in Russia I am not," Arias stressed. "Therefore, it is obvious that here I see much more freedom for myself, at least from the perspective of the ideology I adhere to and my worldview, considering the ideas of globalism, all this Russophobia." He stated that he fully shares traditional Russian values. "Russia is a country that I love, in which I feel satisfied, in which I want to stay for my entire life," he stated.
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported earlier that Arias Gil had been accused of cyberattacks "on behalf of Russia" and declared wanted. European media claim he operated a Telegram channel titled ‘Russian Disinformer’ (El Desinformador Ruso) and maintained ties to the hacker group NoName057.
Arias Gil arrived in Russia in August 2024 to study under a grant from the Russian House (Casa Rusa), a Madrid-based cultural foundation. According to him, Spain’s National Court issued an international arrest warrant against him. He is also listed by Europol as one of the most wanted individuals.