On 31 July, there was an explosion at an ammunition depot near the town of Karnobat in Bulgaria. It belonged to entrepreneur Emilian Gebrev, who had been one of the main suppliers of ammunition to the Ukrainian army during the start of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Commenting on the incident, Gebrev noted that “it is not about any human error, it cannot be”. The root cause of this mishap should be looked for in Russia, and specifically among the Russian secret services, which still hold a strong position in Bulgaria. Gebrev’s plant and warehouses in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic had previously been blown up with the help of the Russian GRU. Russian secret services are at the peak of Russian intelligence activities in the Balkans, and want to push Bulgaria into the maelstrom of conflict confrontation.
Against the background of Putin stirring up an artificial crisis in the Balkans, the Kremlin sees Bulgaria as a leading geopolitical player, which may become an active participant in Russia’s special operation to destabilise the region. Despite the fact that recently 70 Russian diplomats (de facto spies) were expelled from the country, Russian special services still feel comparatively at ease in Bulgaria. The current explosion is a transparent hint to the Bulgarian political leadership that any support for Ukraine should be dropped. Russia is using crime and terror to realise its foreign policy objectives and is ready to destabilise the Balkans, creating a geopolitical catastrophe in the EU.
Taking into account the aggravation of the situation in Kosovo, Bulgaria should avoid getting involved in Russian armed adventures and distance itself from the conflict as much as possible. It should be remembered that wherever Russia comes, devastation and decay begin. Also, Bulgaria should understand that support for Ukraine is support for Bulgaria itself, a guarantee that the Russian geopolitical card will not be played on its territory, as is already happening now in Kosovo.
If Putin can accumulate enough forces to implement his concept of “controlled chaos,” Bulgaria will be at war directly near its borders. The only thing that can save the situation is complete non-participation in any political machinations of Russia. Any step towards Russia, even in exchange for material benefits and resource supplies (including natural gas) will be marked by tenfold damage, loss of reputation in the EU and potential military conflicts. Putin has fewer and fewer resources to put real pressure on Europe, so he is beginning to use terrorist tools capable of plunging the Balkans into a war that will affect every state in the region.
