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Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the evidence gathered for intelligence activities carried out on the country’s territory by two foreign nationals who enjoy diplomatic immunity. This was announced by the press center of the Prosecutor’s Office.
After receiving the relevant signals from the SANS, the Special Prosecutor’s Office initiated a pre-trial process for a crime against the Republic of Bulgaria – due to the fact that two persons – foreign nationals, collected information that constitutes a state secret for publication in a foreign state or organization (offense typified in paragraph 1 of article 104 of the Penal Code).
During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that in the period from 2016 to the present, two citizens of the Russian Federation have carried out intelligence activities, in which they sought information on the modernization plans of the Bulgarian army and the maintenance of the technical aptitude of the military equipment.
Its purpose was to transmit the collected information, which is an official and state secret, to Russian military intelligence in Moscow.
In order to carry out their illegal activity, the two persons also established contacts with Bulgarian citizens who had access to information related to the country’s military-industrial complex.
In some cases, economic benefits have been promised and provided to Bulgarian citizens.
The two Russian citizens have been established as having diplomatic status. According to art. 31 point 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, despite the fact that there are reasons to attract them as accused of a crime under art. 104 par. 1 of the Penal Code, the criminal proceedings against the two Russian citizens were suspended on the grounds of art. 25 par. 1 point 3 of the PPC – “the aggressor is a person with immunity”.
On September 23, 2020, Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev officially notified the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the findings of the investigation and the actions of the prosecution.
We remind you that in January of this year the Prosecutor’s Office revealed two more Russian spies with diplomatic status in our country. The Russians then had 48 hours to leave the country. The Moscow Foreign Ministry considered the expulsion of the Russian diplomats from Sofia as a hostile and provocative step.
In October last year, it was established that the First Secretary of the Russian Embassy had had regular secret meetings with Bulgarian citizens for almost a year, including with a senior official with access to classified information from the Republic of Bulgaria, the EU and the NATO.
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