Bulgaria bans two Russians from entering the EU posing as Bulgarians

Bulgaria has banned two Russian citizens from entering Bulgaria and the entire European Union for five years over their alleged role in a security agency operation in the Balkan country, its state security agency said on February 26.

The State Agency for National Security, which goes by the acronym DANS, said it banned Russian citizens Vladimir Nikolayevich Gorochkin, 39, and Tatyana Anatolievna Gorochkina, 37, who DANS said presented themselves as Bulgarian nationals Denis Rashkov and Diana Rashkova.

“The main purpose of their presence in Bulgaria was to obtain the Bulgarian identity documents and credible biographical data, which they would later use to carry out intelligence activities outside Bulgaria,” DANS said.

The case came after DANS earlier this month detained an employee of the EU and NATO member’s General Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime (GDBOP) for allegedly spying for Russia. An employee of DANS was also placed under investigation, supervising prosecutor Angel Kanev said on February 6.

The detained employee of the GDBOP is a 57-year-old expert in the International Cooperation and Projects sector who had active access to classified information prepared by Bulgarian services and data from partner agencies in several European countries and is said to have provided it to Russia over a long period. He had been working in the Interior Ministry since 1993 and from 2001 to 2002 was on a mission in Kosovo.

He used various methods to transmit the information, which was a mix of paper and digitally stored documents, Kanchev said.

“It’s certainly not about a one-time handover or just a few documents,” Kanev added, noting that his activity did not torpedo any joint operations with partner services or Bulgarian operations.

An inquiry was to be launched into the relevant European countries about the status of the documents that were handed over to Russian intelligence.

The detainee had frequent communication with the DANS employee who was also placed under investigation. As of the day of the announcement of the detention of the GDBOP employee, there was no evidence that the DANS employee had also passed information to the Russian services, but measures were taken to restrict his access to information.

Bulgaria in recent years has expelled Russian diplomats and other Russian citizens on suspicion on espionage. In September the government expelled the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia and two Belarusian priests, accusing them of serving Moscow’s geopolitical interests.

The Russian Embassy reacted to the expulsions by describing them as “crude” and “flagrant” and expressed outrage at the decision.

/rferl.org