Bulgaria must rid its spy services of Russia-backed agents, says head of leading party

SOFIA — Bulgaria must prioritize an overhaul of its security services and flush out Moscow-backed agents if it hopes to succeed in its ambitious plans of rooting out organized crime and corruption, according to Kiril Petkov, whose reformist alliance is currently the main force in a new government.

The 43-year-old leader of the We Continue the Change party — which has formed an anti-corruption alliance with the Democratic Bulgaria party — told POLITICO at his party’s headquarters in Sofia that the intelligence services desperately needed reform.

In the chaotic, often violent, years following the fall of Communism, agents from Bulgaria’s state security apparatus came to play an outsize role in the creation of a powerful mafia — engaged in extortion, narcotics and arms dealing — that still has a pervasive hold on national politics and the judiciary. Many of the state security apparatchiks-cum-mobsters who came to prominence had close ties to Moscow.

“I think there are embedded risks in our security services,” Petkov said. “We want to reform them.”

The goal is part of a seven-point plan — which includes a roadmap for judicial and constitutional reform — that Petkov’s party presented to the center-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on Friday, which is the anti-corruption alliance’s partner in the current government that took office on June 6.

To reform the intelligence services, Petkov said the first step was to change the law on who signs off on appointing the chiefs of the various security services. At present, the duty sits with the president, currently Rumen Radev, who is seen as pro-Moscow. Petkov wants it to be in the hands of parliament. The government currently plans to fire the appointees put in place by Radev, who is equivocal on Bulgaria’s place in NATO and hostile toward arming Ukraine.

The second step, Petkov continued, would be to inspect all employees in the security apparatus to conduct “integrity and ethical tests.” 

“If we can do both of those things, much of the influence of Russia will be diminished,” he added. Moscow uses “corruption to maneuver their foreign policy,” said Petkov. “When we got in the fight of corruption we never knew that we’re going to directly fight Moscow, but it turns out it’s one and the same fight.”

Radev has reacted with outrage to the idea that intelligence services require change, saying they have already been “seriously reformed,” and accused Petkov’s party of giving in to foreign pressure — meaning the U.S. and EU.

“Now these people want to behead the management [of these services],” he complained shortly before the formation of the government.

Factory explosions

On Sunday, in an incident closely related to the debate over Russian interference in Bulgaria, a fire broke out at the warehouse of arms company EMKO, the second conflagration at the site in less than a year.

A string of such explosions is a highly sensitive topic because Russia is widely suspected of playing a role in sabotage — particularly as Bulgaria ramps up weapons supplies for the war in Ukraine — while other critics raise questions about safety standards at Bulgarian facilities.

In regard to Sunday’s factory fire, the economy minister has hinted at Russian involvement, and the owner of the factory has complained that the Bulgarian authorities never got to the bottom of what happened in 2022 — although he had no doubt it was a Russian attack — implicitly suggesting that Bulgarian security services turn a blind eye when Moscow is at work in Bulgaria.

POLITICO spoke to Petkov before Sunday’s blast, but asked him generally whether he believed Russia was attacking weapons facilities.

“I’m sure if the Russians can stop a supply line, they’ll stop it,” he replied.

Petkov had a seven-month stint as prime minister in 2022, when his government took a confrontational position toward Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, expelling 70 Russian diplomats and spies.

We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria agreed to form an “expert” government led by two rotating prime ministers, after GERB  presented former EU Innovation Commissioner Mariya Gabriel as its candidate for prime minister. “We said, well, that’s really one way to bridge the unbridgeable gap,” Petkov said, adding that he could trust Gabriel on the anti-corruption agenda, since she hadn’t been part of Bulgarian politics.

Lots of the old faces

Yet, many of Petkov’s supporters — largely younger urban citizens — who placed their faith in his promise to root out corruption and usher in a new era in Bulgarian politics, felt betrayed by the alliance’s decision to work with GERB, considered at the center of abuse.

“Our standard has not changed. [We’re only selecting] people that have not been involved in corruption and people that we don’t see as having potential corruption risks,” Petkov said, adding that the party was not making intolerable compromises.

Petkov said another core priority was to reform the judiciary, a process that has already begun with the dismissal of the highly controversial Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev at the beginning of June. But Geshev has been temporarily replaced with his deputy Borislav Sarafov, whom many Bulgarians say is equally problematic, given his long service with Geshev and his potential connection to one of the country’s most notorious extortion scandals.

The NGO Justice for All organized protests on Friday calling for the dismissal of Sarafov, arguing he is simply “a replacement” for the status quo. Petkov joined the demonstrators.

With GERB also now back in frontline politics, one of the biggest questions is whether the GERB party leader, former Prime Minister Borissov, will be prosecuted on any of the cases swirling around him.

Petkov said that would all depend on purging corruption out of the judiciary.

“You cannot prosecute anybody, on the street, in the parliament or in the prime minister’s offices [without] a normal working judicial system,” said Petkov. “Unless Bulgaria cleans up on this, and has an institutional framework, we will keep on having these political fights with no end result.”