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Brigadier General Borislav Sertov as Chief of the Military Police Photo: MoD
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A lieutenant colonel, who in 2019 allowed a Russian group near Plovdiv with a NATO equipment site, which also includes a diplomat, who was later expelled from Bulgaria, was responsible for guarding the resident.
How did the “Military Police” drop the arrested spy Ivan Iliev, who was declared the Resident, a few days ago, and he found himself meters away from the Russian Embassy in Sofia?
Only the rapid alarm of the police and gendarmerie led to the recapture. Experts monitoring the development of the spy scandal in Bulgaria suggest that the former military intelligence officer may have sought political asylum in the diplomatic mission. And if there had not been a quick re-arrest, the direction of the international scandal would have gone to another level.
It was only clear from the briefing of the prosecutor’s office that officials who allowed the resident to escape were being checked. The security guards, who either went to the toilet or sought water because they were very thirsty, were members of the Military Police. The embarrassing situation has not been commented on by the top military leadership for a week now, although Admiral Emil Eftimov, chief of defense and Brigadier General Borislav Sertov, until recently director of the Military Police, has testified.
The “noisy silence” of the Supreme Commander – Rumen Radev continues. The president did not comment on the spy scandal, which revealed a breakthrough in national security and that of NATO. However, the actions of the Bulgarian services were supported by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The apparent desire of senior military officials not to speak publicly about the Resident’s escape contrasts with tensions within the Military Police Service itself. Its officials have told investigators that the scandal with the arrested spy is not the first in which military police have shown strange behavior towards the Russian residency in Bulgaria.
Since January, the Military Police, the specialized structure that guards personnel and military sites used by the Bulgarian army and NATO units, has no director.
Three months ago, the government fired Gen. Borislav Sertov, who became defense attaché at the Bulgarian embassy to Moscow.
Sertov’s colleagues explain the new post with the demonstrated close contacts of the senior NATO officer with representatives of the Russian embassy in Bulgaria.
Military police are still commenting on the scandal in 2019, when a group of Russian citizens surprisingly showed up at a military site near Plovdiv, where there was specialized NATO military equipment. Among the guests was the Russian military attache at that time in Bulgaria Vasily Sazanovich. In December 2020, the diplomat was declared a “persona non grata” by the Bulgarian authorities for espionage and left the country. The officer who allowed Russian citizens and the diploma to enter the NATO site was probably a lieutenant colonel. Dimitar Dimitrov from the regional structure of the Military Police. However, an inspection was apparently not carried out, as months later Borislav Sertov promoted Lieutenant Colonel Dimitrov to a leading position in Sofia and he moved to the capital. This officer was also in charge of guarding the espionage group discovered a week ago, when Ivan Iliev managed to escape at the first arrest.
As for the visit of the Russian delegation to the military unit near Plovdiv, it is explained by the close contacts of the diplomats with the then director of the Military Police. While in Bulgaria, Vasily Sazanovich was more than once spotted visiting the Military Police Department in Sofia. This was confirmed only by military police, as such special visits did not remain in the visitors’ diaries. Sertov’s colleagues even spotted their director and the Russian diplomat at the official shooting range and at the range near Slivnitsa, where the two practiced their skills to shoot with Makarov and Kalashnikovs.
Sazanovic is also a guest on the official holiday of the “Military Police” together with the military attachés from the NATO member states.
It is unclear whether there is a link between Sertov’s release from the Military Police less than a month after Sazanovic’s expulsion from Bulgaria.
The general himself has atypical NATO military behavior, judging by his appearances on social media. There, it is understood that he has close relations with the head of the presidential administration – Dimitar Stoyanov, who is also a former army officer. The two communicate lively on Facebook. Probably the reason is Sertov’s recent departure for Moscow, where the ambassador is Rumen Radev’s former adviser – Atanas Krastin. The president has long delayed the appointment of Russia’s first diplomat, refusing to support the government’s candidacy of Meglena Plugchieva. After months of deliberation, Christine was appointed ambassador.
Between funny posts with jokes for 18+ years, there is probably serious communication. Sertov shared that he “has a big fight ahead of him”, and the Secretary General of the President Rumen Radev clarified with an emoticon with a smile that “without us it will be even harder.”
What happened in the “Military Police” and whether it could be another structure of the army, which is the subject of an external breakthrough, only the investigation of the spy scandal can confirm or deny.
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