In 2017, right before the independence referendum, a group identifying themselves as envoys of the Russian government met with Catalonian independence leaders, including former Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont. The Russians reportedly offered $500 billion and 10,000 armed soldiers to facilitate Catalonia’s bid for independence in exchange for favorable cryptocurrency legislation. According to Christopher Nehring, a lecturer in intelligence history at the University of Potsdam, the proposal combined “a covert, intelligence-backed support for a separatist movement with a scam or fraud component on the side”. A member of this group, Nikolai Sadovnikov, was flagged by a Western intelligence agency as having a direct line to Vladimir Putin. A 2012 report from that agency assessed as a “credible hypothesis” that Sadovnikov worked for Russian intelligence agent. In 2020, a Spanish judge investigating the diversion of public funds for the independence movement confirmed that a Russian offer was indeed made to Puigdemont, but that the Catalonian leader had rejected it.