A European intelligence report documented the Kremlin's attempts to interfere in the process. Russia used a “wide range of hybrid tools and active measures to influence the Catalan crisis,” according to a confidential analysis prepared a month after the independence referendum.
“It is highly unlikely that these activities would be carried out without the approval and support of the Russian Government (Kremlin),” the report notes. The report speaks of an “emboldened” Russia and the possibility that it will try to repeat its tactics in elections in European countries.