Bulgaria’s prosecutor’s office has requested Russia to extradite three officers of the Main Intelligence Agency (GRU), whom Sofia accuses of poisoning the country’s best-known arms manufacturer and dealer Emilyan Gebrev, his son and Emko production director Valentin Tahchiyev with the substance of the “Novichok” group, the portal “24” reports. Chase”.
The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office has requested the extradition of three Russian spies. Bulgaria has not asked Western countries for help in the investigation, although the use of “Novichok” is suspected.
Bulgaria’s extradition request is only a formality, as the Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of the country’s citizens, regardless of the crime they are accused of abroad.
Sergejs Fedotovs, Georgijs Gorshkovs and Sergejs Pavlovs are accused in the case of the poisoning that happened in 2015. They were first discovered by investigative journalism project Bellingcat, which investigated the March 2018 attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, Great Britain.
The Skripal case also involves one of the GRU officers suspected of Gebrev’s poisoning, Denis Sergeyev, who also operated under the name of Sergey Fedotov.
The prosecutor’s office announced that three Bulgarian citizens were poisoned when Gebreva’s car handles were smeared with poison.
Gebrev has been active in arms production and trade for several decades. According to media reports, the weapons produced in his factory have been exported to Ukraine.
Six other Russian intelligence officers are accused of four bombings at Bulgarian military depots over the past 12 years. The warehouses contained military products intended for Georgia and Ukraine.
2023-11-21 21:08:20
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