Six people were arrested in Bulgaria for allegedly passing intelligence information about NATO secrets to Russia
Six Bulgarian citizens were detained and accused of spying for Russia and actions against their country, the EU and NATO.
According to the prosecutor's office, the group was led by a retired military intelligence officer who had once trained in Moscow, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The detention of “Russian spies” was announced at a briefing by the Prosecutor General of Bulgaria Ivan Geshev, the press secretary of the Prosecutor’s Office Siika Mileva and the press secretary of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Military District of Sofia Elin Aleksov.
At the press conference, recordings collected using special surveillance equipment were shown. It also shows video footage from office premises, photographs of information collected by the accused, as well as recordings of telephone conversations between group members.
According to the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office, the detainees were led by a former military intelligence officer, whom the investigation conventionally calls the Resident. He received higher education in Bulgaria and abroad, including in Moscow. The main task of the intelligence officers was allegedly to create an illegal intelligence network by recruiting people who had access to classified information about Bulgaria, NATO and the EU.
The Resident’s wife was also a member of the group, had Bulgarian and Russian citizenship and was “well-established in the circles of Russian diplomats.” According to the prosecutor's office, she acted as a liaison with an employee of the Russian Embassy, passing on information.
The rest of the group were "very well trained" and their role was to collect and provide classified information. According to Siika Mileva, the members of the group were personally trained by the Resident in operational skills.
In addition to the spouses, the group included a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Defense, a current employee of the Military Intelligence Service, a current military intelligence officer, a former military intelligence officer who, before his arrest, was the director of the Secret Information Department of the People's Assembly (Parliament - ed.) of Bulgaria.
According to the prosecution, the group collected information related to high technologies of a military-technical nature, and its actions were carried out in a very professional manner.
Representative of the military prosecutor's office Elin Aleksov explained that the criminal group has been operating for a long time, and charges have been brought against it for crimes against the republic, for organizing, leading and participating in a group created to commit crimes against the republic, espionage in favor of another state.
For these charges, the Bulgarian Criminal Code provides for punishment of imprisonment for a term of 10 to 20 years, life imprisonment or life imprisonment without parole.
"Bulgarian citizens can be proud of our intelligence services, which in recent years have finally restored their professional potential, which suffered serious damage during the so-called transition period," reported Ivan Geshev, whose resignation was demanded last year by Bulgarians protesting the corruption of the ruling regime.
To celebrate, Geshev posted on his Twitter a statement from the Bulgarian general Ivan Kolev, who fought against the Russian army on the fronts of the First World War:
“Cavalrymen, God knows, I am grateful to the Russians for freeing us. But what are they looking for now in our Dobroruja? We will defeat them and drive them away, like any enemy who interferes with the unification of Bulgaria!”