Thread by @christogrozev

A briefing by Bulgarian prosecutors today is expected to shed light on investigative proceedings into the explosions of several Bulgarian ammo depots in 2015. These investigations were started after @bellingcat's 2019 investigations into GRU trips to Bulgaria @ time of explosions

As we reported earlier, a total of 8 GRU undercover operatives visited Bulgaria in early 2015. 5 of these spies could be directly tied to the poisoning of three Bulgarians. However, at least 3 - and may be more - worked on other "projects". bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

Several of the assassins/saboteurs from Unit 29155 visited Bulgaria as "tourists" just days before explosions at three state-owned ammo depots. Interesting if BG investigators have discovered data they traveled to the locations of the depots.

!! The spokesperson for Bulgaria's prosecution has announced that there are substantiated suspicion that two of the explosions in 2015 - linked to the 3 GRU members we identified - were aimed at disrupting supply of ammunition to Ukraine and Georgia. Stand by for details.

The investigation has expanded into a number of other explosions at ammo depots in the last 10 years. Four explosions had stark similarities. The first one was on 12 November 2011 - it contained stock by EMCO, and was intended for export to Georgia.

The second and third incidents were at the production & storage facilities at Iganovo - owned by the state weapons manufacturer VMZ Sopot. They took place in March and April 2015.

The next incident is extremely interesting and previously unreported. On 31 May 2015, a fire at a forensic institute in Sofia destroys all evidence gathered by investigators in the case of the two earlier explosions. Guess who left town just hours earlier.

The last case is from last year (March 2020), where a detonator depot owned by the state-owned Arsenal arms manufacturer was destroyed in a fire. In all 4 cases, there was a "fire" preceding the explosions, which appeared to be convenient windows of opportunity for the sabotage.

In all cases, investigators have established that there was "remote controlled detonation of explosives". In all cases, the ammo was intended for export either to Ukraine or Georgia.

The Specialized Prosecution believes there is a common perpetrator group behind the 4 explosions, the three assassination attempts (on Gebrev, his son and production manager), and "serious crimes in other countries"

For the first time, Bulgarian prosecution names the thre suspects in the poisonings as "belonging to the GRU with very high likelihood". A total of 6 Russian citizens are now official suspects.

Here are the locations and times of the explosions in Bulgaria.

And here are the overlapping trips by GRU undercover officers.

Some very interesting details emerge from the forensic investigation of the 2011 explosions. A IED was found near the center of the explosion - and it had apparently malfunctioned.

And the epitomy of prosecutorial cover-up: the prosecutors decide that "even though a remote controlled explosive device was discovered 190 m from the blast, there is no hard proof this device caused the explosion, so we are terminating the investigation". Bulgaria circa 2012.