Bulgarian chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev has accused the Russian authorities of carrying out a hybrid attack against the European Union after the Crimean bridge was blown up.
“The investigation of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office categorically found that Bulgaria had nothing to do with the explosion of the Crimean bridge. This is another Russian hybrid attack against the European community,” commented Geshev on Sunday.
The bridge was blown up on 8 October, and a day later, the head of the Russian investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin, announced that the attack was prepared by Ukrainian special services with the help of Russian citizens and some foreigners.
The Russian investigation announced that the explosion was caused by a truck loaded with explosives, which passed through the territory of the EU through Bulgaria. After that, the truck moved along the route – Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and thus reached the Krasnodar region in Russia.
A week after the explosion, Russian hackers attacked the website of the Bulgarian president and several Bulgarian ministries. According to the Ministry of e-Governance, this was caused by a single targeted cyber attack. Bulgaria reacted quickly to the Russian accusations and counterintelligence began an investigation.
The statements of Geshev mean that the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office has no data to open a criminal case in the case and it can be considered closed.
Back in October, Prime Minister Galab Donev denied that the Balkan country had anything to do with the preparation of the blast, which severely limited Russia’s ability to send supplies to Crimea and Kherson.
Meanwhile, the European Commission commented that the statements of the Russian investigative services about the Bulgarian connection could not be trusted.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
Source: euractiv.com
