After receiving the relevant signals from SANS, the Specialized Prosecutor's Office instituted pre-trial proceedings for a crime against the Republic of Bulgaria - for the fact that two persons - foreign citizens collected information constituting a state secret in order to issue it to a foreign state or organization (crime under Article 104, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code).
In the course of the investigation of the pre-trial proceedings it was established that in the period from 2016 to the present, two citizens of the Russian Federation have carried out intelligence activities in which they sought information about the plans for modernization of the Bulgarian army and maintenance of technical fitness of the technique. Their purpose was to pass the collected information, which is a state and official secret, to the Russian military intelligence in Moscow. In order to carry out their illegal activities, the two persons also made contacts with Bulgarian citizens who had access to information related to the military-industrial complex of the country. In certain cases, financial benefits have been promised and provided to the Bulgarian citizens.
It has been established that the two Russian citizens have diplomatic status. According to Article 31 item 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, despite the existence of grounds for attracting them as defendants for a crime under Article 104 paragraph 1 of the Penal Code, the criminal proceedings against the two Russian citizens were suspended on the grounds of Article 25 paragraph 1 item 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code - “the perpetrator is a person with immunity”.
On September 23, 2020 Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev officially notified the Minister of Foreign Affairs of what had been established in the course of the investigation and for the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office.