"Some non-compliance with security measures at the plants has been established, but nothing was said about strengthening counterintelligence counteraction to the threat coming from Russian intelligence. I did not hear of measures being taken for coordination and active communication with partners along this line. Without such interaction, reaching the objective truth is impossible. It is necessary to answer this question - whether these explosions are a consequence of a Russian active event on Bulgarian territory. This should be the focus of the services' attention at the moment.
This was stated to the Bulgarian National Radio by the former Deputy Chairman of the State Security Agency Petar Petrov in a comment on the explosions in ammunition warehouses of the arms company "EMKO" and the Security Council held where the topic was discussed.
"Measures were identified in the Security Council, but they are aimed at clarifying the regime for storing such production. I heard that teams from the State Security Agency and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will inspect such warehouses, impose sanctions, and patrol and post activity in these areas will be increased. But this was a commitment of the State Security Agency and the State Security Agency, and at the moment, they should have been doing this and are doing it now. If someone has not complied with the regime, if someone has allowed themselves to be negligent, they should bear their responsibility. But for me, the more important question is whether these explosions are a result of a planned sabotage and intelligence operation carried out by the Russian services," he commented.
According to him, this is entirely possible, considering the history that the owner of "EMKO" Emilian Gebrev has been targeting in recent years. He recalled the incidents surrounding him and the fact that charges have been brought against Russian citizens by the Bulgarian prosecutor's office:
"In 2015, he spent a long time in hospital, and the Bulgarian prosecutor's office claimed that he had eaten nitrated arugula. 3 years later, during the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, information was obtained that showed that here, in Bulgaria, individuals from the GRU of the Russian army had been staying and they had entered the country with false identities, had been staying in rented accommodation, only later did it become apparent that one of them was walking around in disguise in the underground parking lot of the "EMKO" office and there was some kind of intervention against Emilian Gebrev's car. This information was not known to the Bulgarian services at the time. It came through the coordination with the British partners. Through this line of coordination with our Western partners, which is the most important at the moment, information was received about connections between the explosions in the Czech Republic, in the village of Vrbetice, where "EMKO" production was stored, and here several explosions in the years from 2011 to 2020, when there was an explosion at the "Arsenal" plant near Maglizh. Both explosions in the Iganovo region, where the warehouses of VMZ - Sopot also stored production of "EMKO". From there, information came through the exchange with the Czech partners that this was related to the actions of Russian military intelligence. Charges were brought against 6 Russian citizens".
According to Petar Petrov, this assessment is very important - whether it is about the actions of Russian intelligence, to be carried out in direct coordination and interaction with our Euro-Atlantic partners. He reminded that over the years, a lot of work has been done to gain the trust of the special services of our Euro-Atlantic partners.
"At the moment, I read studies by French media, Bulgarian intelligence is the last in terms of trust from its Western partners", emphasized the former deputy chairman of SANS and reminded that we are always viewed by our Western partners with a question mark.
"Without information from our partners, we cannot cope on our own against such a major adversary as Russian intelligence", he was categorical in an interview for the program "Nedelya 150".
"The owners of such warehouses and factories - whatever regulations they follow, whatever measures they take for their own security, if it is a matter of an operation by Russian intelligence, they will not be able to protect themselves without the state stepping in. "
Considering the capacity of the Russian Federation in this area, the Bulgarian state cannot cope with these processes alone, Petrov pointed out and expressed his opinion that we must rely heavily on our partners in NATO and the EU.
According to him, the long-term goal of a Russian hybrid operation in our country is one - to achieve a good environment for the realization of Russian geopolitical interests on Bulgarian territory. In his words, the Balkans are a focus of interest for the Russian Federation. "It will always want to maintain its influence here. It will always want to make the relevant breakthroughs in key areas such as security, it will want to acquire agents in the services, at a political level", he explained.
"There are quite worrying facts that should increase the attention of society. If society follows these processes and is aware of this threat, this would create quite a few difficulties in the implementation of such an operation. The Bulgarian is well enough aware of the realities that surround him. Every day we must preserve our national sovereignty, we must daily monitor those in power, every body of state power and if there are issues that worry us, we should raise them publicly".