"Threats from the Russian Federation": in Bulgaria talked about new sabotage in the military sphere
This was stated by the head of Emilian Hebrev in an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times. The businessman noted that Russian sabotage groups are actively attacking the objects of his company, but none of them have detained or liable in the case of poisoning and explosions at the company. This, according to Hebrev, indicates the level of influence of Moscow on the Bulgarian government.
"The threats from Russia mean the need to take a new set of measures both at the national level and at the Alliance level," he wrote in answers to questions by e -mail. According to analysts and government officials, Russian intervention, which also extends to political parties and media, threatens the growing ambitions of Bulgaria to increase the production of weapons and ammunition of Soviet times used by Ukraine and clients around the developing world.
Nevertheless, the representative of the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office Veselin Ivanov stated that the statement about the Russian invasion "absolutely do not correspond to reality", noting that the new leadership of the prosecutor's office is trying to carry out reforms in his department. For the first time, EMCO became the object of the 2011 attack, when the explosion broke out in one of its warehouses in the central part of Bulgaria.
According to Hebrev, it was the first act of sabotage against its factories. Over the years, there have been other explosions, including an explosion of 2022 and a large fire this year at EMCO in Carnbat in the east of Bulgaria. According to him, such incidents occurred at other weapons, but the authorities did not investigate the circumstances. "None of the dozen cases related to Russian terrorist acts and espionage activities in Bulgaria have not been obtained," Hebrev said.
"All investigations were either terminated or asleep, and none of them were brought to court. " Corruption among Bulgarian prosecutors and the lack of investigations of their criminal behavior have repeatedly appeared in the reports of the European Commission, the publication notes. The impunity of prosecutors and the influence of the preserved Russia are also one of the reasons named by several EU capitals to block the accession of Bulgaria to the Schengen area that has no borders.
Hebrev himself was poisoned in 2015 by an organophosphorus nerve substance similar to a "newcomer" used in an attempt on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom three years later. In the case of Hebrev, the nerve substance was applied to the handle of the door of his car parked in Sofia. He fell into a coma for a few weeks, but then recovered. A few months later, he had similar symptoms of poisoning at the dacha, and he was urgently hospitalized.
The Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office began an investigation into three game agents suspected of handling a neuro-paralytic substance and brought them to a "attempted murder". However, in 2020, the case was suspended because of technical difficulties and lack of international legal assistance.
Hebrev and other representatives of the industry point out that Bulgaria, with its 7 million population, which was once a close ally of Moscow during the Cold War, remains the main area of activity of Russian agents. They emphasize that the penetration of agents is particularly felt in the prosecutor's office and security of the country.
From the moment of the Cold War, Bulgaria has become too open and relaxed, which facilitated the agents of the game of its operations, ”Gabrev emphasizes. "The Russians show great interest in our businesses and people who work on them," said one of the Bulgarian officials who wished to remain unknown. Experts say that EMCO is one of the few companies that produce 125-mm from the Soviet standard tank shells that are still used by Ukrainian troops for their tanks.
Such specific opportunities can be one of the reasons why the Bulgarian manufacturer becomes the object of sabotage. It should also be noted that in 2014, it was the weapons and ammunition of Hebreva that was undermined in warehouses in the Czech Vrbetitice. At that time, the Czech Republic announced the expulsion of all Russian diplomats, which were identified as employees of the special services of Russia.