On a signal of the State Agency for National Security, the Specialized Prosecutor's Office instituted pre-trial proceedings for a crime against the Republic of Bulgaria - that a foreign citizen had collected information constituting a state secret for the purpose of providing it to a foreign state or organization (crime referred to in 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 2017 to the present, another citizen of the Russian Federation has carried out intelligence activities, during which military information was collected, incl. for the number of US servicemen stationed on the territory of Bulgaria during the exercise. The aim was to pass on information, a state and official secret, to Russian military intelligence in Moscow. In order to carry out his illegal activity, the Russian citizen had contacts with a Bulgarian citizen who had access to the relevant classified information. He was promised and granted financial benefits.
It has been established that the Russian citizen enjoys diplomatic status. According to Article 31, item 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, despite the existence of grounds for bringing him as an accused for a crime under Art. 104, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code, the criminal proceedings against the foreign citizen has been suspended on the grounds of Art. 25, paragraph 1 item 3 of the PPC - "the perpetrator is a person with immunity".
In this regard, on December 17, 2020, Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev officially notified the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the findings in the course of the investigation and the actions taken.