The Bulgarian authorities did not provide the Russian embassy with information about the investigation of the explosions at warehouses in Vrbetica, in which citizens of the Russian Federation are suspected of being involved. This was announced on Wednesday, April 28, at the Russian Embassy.
“For additional information in connection with the investigation of this crime, the Bulgarian law enforcement agencies did not apply to the Russian side and did not inform about the progress of the investigation,” TASS quoted the representative of the Russian Embassy in Sofia as saying.
Earlier that day, it became known that in Bulgaria six Russians are suspected of involvement in the explosions at military depots. Three of the suspects are charged with the attempted murder of the Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev.
The representative of the chief prosecutor of Bulgaria, Siika Mileva, said that the department suspects six Russians of organizing four explosions at the country’s arms factories between 2011 and 2020. In none of the cases was a specific technical malfunction or other cause of the fire found, Mileva noted.
According to her, the products of the EMKO company, destroyed as a result of the incidents, belonged to Gebrev and were intended for export to the former Soviet republics.
On April 25, Czech President Milos Zeman said that the republic’s special services had established a connection between Gebrev and the explosions at the ammunition depot in Vrbetica in 2014, accusations of the involvement of Russians in which caused discord in relations between Moscow and Prague.
According to him, there is no evidence in the intelligence report that the “agents of Russia” were involved in the explosion. He also drew attention to the fact that the Czech counterintelligence, even in the closed part of the reports, had not reported anything about some “Russian agents” for six years.
On April 17, the head of the Czech Republic, Andrei Babish, said that the country’s authorities suspect the Russian special services of involvement in the above-mentioned explosion. On the same day, the Czech Republic announced its decision to expel 18 Russian diplomats.
In turn, Russia a day later announced 20 employees of the Czech embassy in the Russian Federation persona non grata.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia is ready to restore conditions for the functioning of embassies in both countries, only if reason prevails in the Czech Republic.
