Russian spies are exposed in Romania

On March 2, 2009 the Bulgarian national Petar Zikulov and Floricel Achim, a Romanian warrant officer, were arrested in Bucharest on charges of espionage and treason. They have been accused of leaking military secrets to a third country that was not an EU and NATO member.

The Deputy Chairman of the Municipal Council in the Bulgarian city of Sliven and former officer of the Bulgarian State Security (DS), Marin Kavrukov, said in a special interview for Darik Radio that he knew Zikulov in person and confirmed he was a close relative of the former Chief of the Bulgarian Military Intelligence during the Communist regime, General Vladimir Zikulov.

"I know Peter Zikulov personally,” Marin Kavrakov said in the interview: "He was attached about a year ago to the group of the First main directorate of the DS, because the structure of developing military intelligence had no positions in the district centres. Zikulov implementing routine actions on studying of contingent of „operationally interesting" people and contacts, which is a normal activity for the beginner officer of intelligence and counterintelligence. He formally served in the Parachute Battalion, which had an Intelligence unit. Most of the personnel studied also in the special course of military intelligence in military school of Veliko Tyrnovo. Career of a military attache is a good development for the military intelligence officer, but the fact that he worked in a nearby country that is not an active region means that a lot had to learn more to move to a NATO member-country where requirements and the selection should be higher. If his career had developed properly, after Romania he probably would work in another country as a military attache, or return to the leadership’s Analysis Centre”. 

Kavrukov warned that the case could be connected with some large scale operation that could involve not only the Ukraine and its aspirations to join NATO, but also Russia and Bulgaria, which could turn into a really huge political and diplomatic scandal. 

Kavrakov said, "Why the Bulgarian who transferred information till 2007 was arrested in 2009 with no evidence provided, when normally the case has been developed in order to get the agent red-handed at the time of transmission of information? It is possible that information from Romania and Ukraine was going directly to Russia through the Bulgarian, because they do not know in this case who is the main character, the retired Bulgarian officer or the Ukrainian diplomat. If Zikulov gathered and transmitted information to the Ukrainians after he left the "special services", what did he do when he was an officer of the Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of National Defense of Bulgaria (RUMNO) and when he was obliged to collect information in Bulgaria. Can we assume that he transferred information also to the Bulgarians and the Ukrainians or the Russians then?".

Romania doesn’t accuse Bulgaria in espionage over that case and the actions of Zikulov have no connection with Sofia, Romanian investigators said, according to Focus News Agency. Sources: