Bulgarian police detained 12 people suspected of exporting dual-use goods for the Russian military involved in the war with Ukraine; among them there are Russians, Belarusians and Albanians. This was reported by Free Europe with reference to the Deputy Prosecutor General of Bulgaria Maria Pavlova.
According to her, a group of foreigners was engaged in the export of optical sights, binoculars, aviation radios and software from Bulgaria to Russia, which led to a violation sanctions imposed by the European Union against the country. As Pavlova clarified, the detainees worked in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, as well as in Plovdiv, Varna and Veliko Tarnovo.
Five foreigners have already been charged with participation in a criminal group and illegal export. The head of the State National Security Agency (DANS) Plamen Tonchev noted that the exported goods were intended for the Russian Guard, the General Staff, the Chechen troops and the reformed units of the Wagner PMC participating in the war.
According to the security forces, one of the foreigners registered in In Plovdiv, a company that purchased dual-use goods with a total value of about 4 million leva (about 216.7 million rubles).
In December last year, Reuters and the British Royal United Services Institute wrote that after the outbreak of war in Ukraine Russia, bypassing sanctions, increased supplies of electronics and semiconductors through companies in Turkey, Hong Kong and Estonia. A few months ago it became known about the extradition from Estonia to the United States of Russian Vadim Konoshchenko, accused of purchasing military technologies for Russia in circumvention of sanctions.