An investigation by the German authorities and the publication The Insider reveals a new episode of Moscow's hybrid war in Europe - with the direct participation of Bulgarian citizens, writes on Facebook the journalist from De Re Militari Ruslan Trad.
On September 3, two Bulgarians (a man and a woman) threw incendiary devices from a car at a site in Munich. The target was in close proximity to the headquarters of the companies Rohde & Schwarz and Helsing — the latter is a key manufacturer and supplier of innovative military drones to Ukraine. The fire was quickly extinguished, and the perpetrators were arrested.
The investigation shows that the Bulgarians are part of a wider sabotage network organized by the Russian military intelligence (GRU) from the territory of Slovakia:
- The same cell was preparing to set fire to a drone factory (Skyeton) near Prešov;
- Citizens of Latvia and Ukraine have already been arrested in the case, as well as another Latvian in Hamburg;
- The services also connect the network to the attempted sabotage with a drone at the Leipzig airport, led by career GRU officer Denis Smolyaninov;
This case is not an isolated incident, but an illustration of the GRU's new doctrine of destabilizing the West:
A shift to "one-time agents" after the countries of NATO expelled over 700 Russian "diplomats"-spies, Moscow lost its operational network. In response, the GRU switched to a model of mass recruitment of foreign citizens (often marginalized, financially troubled, or from the criminal world) through Telegram channels.
Cheap sabotage: unlike in the past, when the GRU sent highly trained personnel (such as agents from unit 29155), today the Kremlin uses low-paid amateurs. The payment is a few thousand dollars in cryptocurrency in exchange for video evidence of arson. For intelligence, this is a “kamikaze drone” strategy - a cheap experiment with minimal risk to Moscow if they are captured.
The ultimate goal of these attacks is rarely the complete destruction of a given plant. More important for Moscow are:
- The suggestion of insecurity among European society and forcing European defense companies to allocate huge resources for security;
- The study of critical infrastructure and testing how far NATO can go before triggering Article 5;
The participation of Bulgarian citizens in such schemes shows how easily the criminal contingent or financially squeezed people in our country can become tools of foreign military intelligence.