Bulgaria Expels Russian Diplomats After Busting Spy Ring

The Russian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. Wikipedia. Photo by MrPanyGoff, Creative Commons.

"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.

Although the announcement does not state a link between the events, the expulsions directly follow a major intelligfence operation on March 19, when a ring of local spies, some of them members of the Ministry of Defence, was uncovered after months of investigations.

Five of the six remain detained after one made a full confessions of espionage activity. They are charged with releasing classified information about NATO and European Union activities in Bulgaria to Russia as well as details about the capabilities of the army.

The informants were paid, receiving up to 3,000 US dollars each for their contributions, according to the authorities.

The key figure in the ring, initially named by the Prosecution only as "The Resident", has been named as Ivan Iliev, a former chief of Military Intelligence in Bulgaria. His wife, who has a double Bulgarian-Russian citizenship, is also part of the group. 

"Unfortunately … this unjust démarche of the Bulgarian authorities will not contribute to creating a constructive Russian-Bulgarian dialogue," the Russian embassy in Sofia stated on Monday. One of the detainees tried to escape but was arrested in the embassy. 

The prosecution's original lead to the spy ring remains unclear. Videos released on YouTube show the group was under surveillance since its formation, before some of...