Starlink and drones: Now Bulgaria also fights with attacks and sabotage

Russia’s war against Ukraine is also having ever more tangible consequences for EU and NATO member Bulgaria. The city court of the capital Sofia issued on Monday a European arrest warrant against two 19-year-old men with a German passport. Zeka I and Tirpan B are accused by the prosecutor’s office of having damaged eight antennas of a ground station of the Starlink satellite Internet system, which is important for the defense of Ukraine. In the attack on 9 October, according to Bulgarian reports, three antennas were completely destroyed, two partially burned and another three damaged. The prosecutor’s office states that the men entered Bulgaria on the same day with a car with a German number plate from Serbia. Immediately after the attack south of Sofia, the two drove back to Serbia in the night. In front of Bulgaria, two ships attacked with drones sank “The evidence gathered suggests that there is sufficient suspicion of involvement of the two accused,” the court said in its decision. If convicted, the suspects face three to twelve years in prison, according to the state news agency BTA. Because footage showed only silhouettes of people, defenders complained that the evidence was insufficient. They announced that they would challenge the decision. Recently, there have also been attacks on Starlink infrastructure in other countries. There was an attempted arson attack in Lithuania at the weekend. On September 23, a fire broke out south of Warsaw. Last week, in Nürtingen near Stuttgart, two Turkish nationals residing in Germany were arrested for the attack in Poland. According to German authorities, Russian intelligence agencies use Telegram to recruit young men who carry out acts of sabotage against payment. Bulgaria is more affected by the war than before, not only because of the attack on the Starlink antennas. Since the beginning of October, four merchant ships with drones have been attacked off the coast of the southeastern European country. Two of them sank. More than 20 crew members of the sunken ships have since been reported missing. The Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said last week about the attacks in the Black Sea, one can prove no authorship. At the same time, he said, “it makes no sense for Ukraine to attack its own ships and crews, as the outcome of all these attacks benefits Russia.” In addition, the head of government in Sofia appointed the Russian ambassador. For Radev, the situation is delicate, because the head of government, who has been in office since May, has so far talked about a comparatively Russia-friendly policy. Radev also spoke out against Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries after the recent attacks in the Black Sea. In addition, Bulgaria prevented the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kyrill from being sanctioned by the EU. Last week, there were demonstrations in Sofia against the critics' mild reaction of Radev and President Ilyana Jotova to the Black Sea incidents. On Sunday, voters will decide whether Radev confidant Jotova will remain in office.