A Bulgarian arms dealer who survived an apparent novichok poisoning in 2015 said that he is 100 percent sure that Russian operators were involved in the explosion and subsequent fire at one of his depots near the Bulgarian town of Karnobat on Sunday.
The explosion hit a warehouse near the Bulgarian town of Karnobat. It is the fifth time that blasts have occurred in the facilities. The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday morning.
There is no way it could be an accident; there was nothing that could have deteriorated with any outside interference, ‘’ Emilian Gebrev said in an interview.
Bulgarian prosecutors have linked all the previous attacks to Russian operatives. In addition, he said there must be some CCTV recordings that would show any intruders. Still, so far, police officials have refrained from entering the location, fearing any further possible explosions.
Gebre said that the warehouse contained munitions that were meant to be supplied to African countries several years ago, but due to uncertainties in payment, the munitions were not sold.
Gebrev’s apparently targeting the GRU has led many people to think that he must have had some involvement within arms supply to Ukraine. Debunking all the doubts, Gebrev said he had no dealings with Ukraine. He cut off all his dealings with Ukraine since the signing of the Minsk peace deal in late 2014, which had caused a ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine.
He denied any links with Ukraine and rejected all the rumours of his connections with Ukraine. He insisted that since the full-scale invasion of Russia in February this year, he had not provided any arms to Ukraine.
Whatever the reason is, Gabriel has made enemies in Russia. He said that his name was being dragged unnecessarily. There should be a thorough investigation of the case. It’s been 11 years since the first explosion, but no person has been punished for this.