Algeria calls Albares an "arsonist" for pointing to Russia and questions his ability as a diplomat

In an opinion article, the state press agency blames the minister for aggravating the crisis

MADRID, 14 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Algerian government, through the mouth of its official APS press agency, has lashed out this Tuesday against the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, whom it has branded as an "arsonist" for implying that Russia would be behind the last steps of Algiers and has questioned his ability as a diplomat.

Under the title "Algiers-Madrid: arsonist Albares' flight forward", the state agency publishes an opinion piece in which it blames the Foreign Minister for the "unprecedented crisis" between the two countries and questions "the ability of an unworthy diplomat" from Spain and the Spaniards for having traveled to Brussels to seek their support after announcing Algiers that it was suspending the Treaty of Friendship.

In this sense, he accuses him of "manipulating" the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, and of "clouding the credibility" of the European Commission for the "baseless statement against Algeria" that it published as a result of the Albares' visit on Friday, warning of possible actions if he verified that the Association Agreement between the Maghreb country and the bloc had not been complied with.

Likewise, he criticizes Albares for his "guignolesque declaration" from Brussels, assuring that Spain seeks dialogue "with a disrespectful outline language and above all, unworthy of his position" and that contrasts with other "illustrious diplomats and foreign ministers of Spain inscribed in the pantheon of international diplomacy".

But the most "grotesque thing about this guy" in charge of Spain's foreign policy, APS maintains, is that on his return from Brussels "he gave anyone who wants to listen to understand that he is neither more nor less Russia, Putin himself, who would be at the origin of this crisis".

Algiers has seen in it a "regrettable indirection to the United States and NATO to help a small minister overcome by his own vileness, after having tried in vain to mobilize the EU".

In Algeria's opinion, as stated in the article, it is Albares, who is branded as an "amateur minister", who is responsible for the "flight forward" that led to the Government's change of position with respect to the Sahara and who has "ridiculed his Government, isolating it both within Parliament and from Spanish public opinion".

The Foreign Minister "continues to aggravate a crisis (...) that could have been avoided" but he did not take into account that the "betrayal of the Saharawi cause" would provoke something more than "a temporary epidermal anger on the part of Algeria ". "It is a misunderstanding of Algeria and its defense of international legality," says the article.

"History will not retain much of Albares, because nothing great is born from smallness. Exacerbating the crisis between Algeria and Spain and wrapping it in a language borrowed from the Cold War does not make Albares bigger," the article emphasizes.