After receiving the relevant signals from the State Agency for National Security, the Specialized Prosecutor's Office initiated two pre-trial proceedings for a crime against the Republic of Bulgaria - for the fact that two persons - foreign citizens collected information representing a state secret, with the aim of releasing it to a foreign country or a foreign organization - crime under Art.104, para.1 of the Criminal Code.
In the course of the investigation of one of the pre-trial proceedings, it was established that in the period from 2017 to the present moment, a citizen of the Russian Federation carried out intelligence activities during which he sought information about the mechanisms of the election process in the country. It was established that the Russian citizen has the status of a diplomat, he is accredited in our country as the first secretary in the consular department of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Sofia.
As a result of the actions carried out in the other pre-trial proceedings, it was established that in the period from October 2018 to the present moment, a Russian citizen collected intelligence information, incl. such representing a state and official secret from the field of energy and energy security of the country, which he subsequently sent to the headquarters of the Russian intelligence service in Moscow. For the realization of his illegal activity, the Russian representative made contacts with Bulgarian citizens who had access to information from this sphere. Further verification has established that the Russian citizen enjoys diplomatic immunity, as he is an employee of the Trade Representation of the Russian Federation in Sofia.
According to Art.31 item 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, despite the existence of grounds for bringing them in as defendants for a crime under Art.104 para. 1 of the Criminal Code, the criminal proceedings against the two Russian citizens are suspended, on the basis of Art.25 para. 1 item 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code - "the perpetrator is a person with immunity".
The Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev has officially informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the findings of the investigations and the actions of the prosecution.