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Another Espionage Scandal in the Relations Between Bulgaria and Russia Evgeniy Kandilarov

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Another Espionage Scandal in the Relations Between Bulgaria and Russia Evgeniy Kandilarov ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 38, No. 4 (BG) March 2021 Bulgaria external relations briefing: Another Espionage Scandal in the Relations between Bulgaria and Russia Evgeniy Kandilarov 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: CHen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01 Another Espionage Scandal in the Relations between Bulgaria and Russia Summary Following the arrest in Bulgaria of six people on suspicion of espionage, Bulgarian foreign ministry has declared two senior Russian diplomats a persona non grata and gave them 72 hours to leave, the country. Although the announcement does not state a link between the events, the expulsions directly follow a major intelligence operation on March 19, when a network of local spies, some of them members of the Ministry of Defense, was uncovered after months of investigations. Sofia has now expelled eight Russian diplomats, including a military attache, over suspected spying since October 2019, putting a strain on historically close ties between Moscow. In 2020 Bulgaria has declared Russian citizens accused of espionage persona non grata four times and at the beginning of 2021 two more Russian diplomats were ordered to leave in accusations of espionage as well. All these diplomatic scandals are gradually escalating and leading to growing tensions between Bulgaria and Russia, at least on a public level. This is happening entirely in the spirit of the deepening European anti-Russian public campaign. This process is also a function of the growing tensions in US-Russian relations, clearly visible in the aggressive rhetoric of the new US president. Over the past week, relations between Bulgaria and Russia have been shaken again by a spy scandal that has led to new diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Everything started a week ago, on March 19, when Bulgarian prosecutors and the State Agency for National Security announced the arrest of six people on suspicion of spying for Russia. The key figure in the spying group, initially named by the Prosecution only as “The Resident”, has been named as Ivan Iliev, a former chief of Military Intelligence in Bulgaria. He has completed his education in Bulgaria and Russia and worked for Russian military intelligence service the GRU. Currently he is a lecturer at Bulgaria’s Military Intelligence Service. He had the task of building an illegal network of agents. He recruited people who had access to NATO and Bulgarian state secrets. His wife, who has a double Bulgarian-Russian citizenship, is also part of the group. According to the prosecution the wife of the “Resident” "played the role of intermediary between the ex-officer and the embassy of the Russian Federation". The wife allegedly passed on confidential information about Bulgaria and its EU 1 and NATO partners to "an employee of the Russian embassy," who in turn gave her money to pay the network. It is alleged that the operation infiltrated the Defense Ministry, Military Intelligence Service and Parliament. One of the group, a former military attaché abroad, currently is the director of the registry for classified information at the National Assembly. The other members of the group are an employee of the Ministry of Defense and two current employees of the service. The officials are accused of passing classified information related to NATO military technology and strategic plans. The informants were paid, receiving up to 3,000 US dollars each for their contributions, according to the authorities. The position of the Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev regarding the case is that "For the first time in our recent history, an espionage group has been uncovered.” According to the official statement „The investigation is of particular importance for the security of Bulgaria, the EU, NATO and the United States.” According to Western analysts, now as a member of NATO and the European Union, Bulgaria is a favorite target for Russian espionage. As Bulgaria is a member of NATO, some important sites are located in the country in close proximity to the Black Sea. NATO aircraft fly from bases in Bulgaria performing air policing missions over the area, which has seen increasing military activity from both Russia and the Alliance since Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Again according to the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office, the Russian spy ring was gathering information for Moscow on the NATO military alliance, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Ukraine, and the conflict in the disputed South Caucasus territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The investigation was even more concrete explaining that the leak concerned the new modification of the American F-16 block 70 fighters. Bulgaria is one of the first countries in the world to buy this version of the F-16. Defense Minister Krassimir Karakachanov, who is the direct head of the Military Intelligence Service, explained that "it is difficult to say whether the information leaked is serious, as some of it is public." A day earlier, Minister Karakachanov said the data had been controlled so as not to compromise information coming from NATO. Bulgaria's foreign ministry welcomed the uncovering of the ring, adding that it was "not the first time we have seen activities from foreign embassies which aren't compatible with the Vienna convention". It called such cases "unacceptable." Soon after these events the spy affair in Bulgaria resulted in two Russian diplomats being expelled from the country. The state prosecution announced that “preliminary investigations have shown that two Russian nationals carried out intelligence activity incompatible with diplomatic relations.” Immediately after that Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declared two 2 secretaries of the Russian embassy persona non grata and invited them to leave the country in 72 hours. “The two diplomats had carried out activities in the country that are incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the Foreign Ministry stated. Bulgarian National Television named the two diplomats as Maxim Ribkin, first secretary in the Russian embassy and Alexander Zinkin, the second secretary. Again according to the media the diplomats were officers working for Russian military intelligence. Russia denied the accusations of espionage in Bulgaria. Last year, Sergei Ivanov, a spokesman for Russia's foreign intelligence service, accused US intelligence agencies of campaigning against people in Eastern Europe who want good relations with Russia. Bulgaria has become the epicenter of this smear campaign, he said before Russian media. The Russian embassy, on his side, warned in a statement on Facebook that it could respond to the expulsions. It expressed “regret that once again this unfounded action by the Bulgarian authorities will not contribute to constructive dialogue between Russia and Bulgaria”. The Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova expressed its regret that against the background of increasing anti-Russian hysteria around the world, Bulgaria is pushing to the forefront of this destructive trend. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that another escalation of anti-Russian "espionage" in Bulgaria was initiated by outside actors. "Again, we call on official Sofia to end its participation in the "witch hunt", harming the national interests of Bulgaria itself." Zakharova said. Relations between Bulgaria and Russia have been hit by several spy scandals in recent years. In less than two years, Bulgaria has expelled a total of 8 Russian diplomats for unregulated activities on Bulgarian territory. The latest case came with relations between the EU and Russia strained by the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition politician Alexey Navalny and the EU’s decision to sanction high-ranking Russian officials over the affair. Reveling of a Russian espionage network in Bulgaria is undoubtedly a success for the Bulgarian intelligence services, which have been blamed for years of leaving their Russian counterparts to operate freely in Bulgaria. Unlike other similar cases, the actions of the Bulgarian secret services were supported by NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg, the US and British embassies, and NATO foreign ministers. Accordingly, there was a reaction from Russia, which, as usual, denies everything. But unlike other cases, the Russian side reacted sharply. Russia's new ambassador even went to see Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. Only a day earlier, he warned Russia to stop spying on Bulgaria. On Monday, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said his country and fellow EU member state “stands firmly with our friend and NATO ally Bulgaria in its actions to protect 3 sovereignty against Russia’s hostile, spy activity”. The United States also said it “stands with Bulgarians against these malign activities on their territory” while the UK expressed its full support for “Bulgaria’s efforts in disrupting an alleged spy ring and taking steps to tackle Russia’s hostile actions”. As it was already mentioned the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov by telephone on Monday that the alliance should stand united against any malign activities targeting its member states. "In NATO, we must all be united and in solidarity with each other. The political will for this is of great importance," said Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and assured Stoltenberg that NATO can always count on Bulgaria's allied solidarity. During the same conversation prime Minister Borissov added that NATO, as the most successful politico-military alliance in history, is an additional guarantor of Bulgaria's sovereignty, integrity and security. In conclusion, the spy affair with the arrested organized spy group in Bulgaria working in favor of Russian intelligence, as well as the subsequent expulsion of two more Russian diplomats from Bulgaria is another step towards escalating tensions between Bulgaria and Russia, accumulated over the years. This and all previous diplomatic scandals in Bulgaria- Russia relations fit perfectly into the escalation of tensions between the United States and NATO, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other.
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