Russia Pulls Diplomat Suspected of Spying in Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that Russia has withdrawn a member of its diplomatic corps in Sofia after the Bulgarian State Prosecution announced earlier that day that it was investigating him or her for spying.

"It has been established that, since the month of September 2018, a citizen of the Russian Federation has carried out intelligence-gathering activities by making regular conspiring meetings with Bulgarian citizens, including a high-level civil servant with access to classified information of Bulgaria, the EU and NATO," the prosecution said in a statement.

It said the said Russian had been a diplomat accredited to the embassy as a First Secretary. The indictment against the diplomat has been stopped because of his diplomatic immunity, however, the State Prosecution added.

According to the Bulgarian authorities, the signal about the alleged spy came from the National State Security Agency, DANS.

This is the second time in two months that the Bulgarian State Prosecution has launched a case against potential spying activities by Russia.

On 10 September, it announced that it had launched an investigation against the president of the Russophile Movement, Nickolay Malinov, who has been charged with spying for two Russian organisations.

These are the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, RISI, and the "Double-headed Eagle Society". Until 2017, RISI had been headed by the retired Foreign Intelligence Service FIS Russian Lieutenant General Leonid Reshetnikov. The latter is led by the mogul Konstantin Malofeev, who is banned from entering the EU and the US for his alleged role in the destabilisation of Ukraine.

The Bulgarian Prosecution announced it was barring Reshetnikov from entering the country for...

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