Russia has fiercely denied any involvement in the migrant crisis that engulfed Ceuta at the end of July, insisting there is no evidence linking Moscow to the events.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova hit back on Tuesday after Pedro Sanchez accused actors linked to countries including Russia and Israel of spreading misinformation on social media.

‘There is no evidence supporting Russia’s alleged involvement in the migration crisis in Spain,’ Zakharova said during a press conference.

‘When there are accusations, there must be facts that require verification. Only then can an accusation be taken seriously,’ she added, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Zakharova also criticised Madrid for making the claims publicly, arguing that the Spanish government could have approached Moscow directly if it had concerns about possible Russian involvement.

‘If there are no facts, if there are no materials, no data, no names, then there is simply nothing to talk about,’ she said.

She argued that without evidence, ‘any other country’ could equally be accused of involvement.

Her comments follow remarks made by Sanchez on Monday about the extraordinary events in Ceuta, where tens of thousands of migrants crossed from Morocco at the end of July.

The Spanish premier said there was no intelligence information casting suspicion on the Moroccan authorities’ involvement in triggering the mass crossings, while pointing instead to misinformation circulating online.

Sanchez referred to networks associated with Russia, Israel and the international far right when discussing the spread of false information surrounding the crisis.

His remarks did not amount to an accusation that the Russian state itself organised or caused the mass border crossings.

The Kremlin had already rejected any suggestion of Russian involvement on Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had ‘nothing to do’ with what happened in Ceuta.