Bulgaria investigates fire at weapons site that owner calls sabotage

Bulgaria is investigating the cause of an overnight fire at an ammunition storage site run by a private defence company.

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the authorities "are not ruling out outside interference" in the incident in central Bulgaria. No-one was injured in the blaze that triggered a series of explosions.

EMCO company, whose weapons are used by Ukraine against invading Russian forces, said the fire at its site was sabotage and that human error was "completely ruled out". It did not say who might be responsible.

The latest incident follows last month's fire and blasts at another EMCO ammunition warehouse in the area.

In a statement, EMCO said the storage facility that was burned this time - near the central village of Gorni Varpishta, some 170km (106 miles) east of the capital Sofia - had not been used for months and was inspected just 20 days ago, when full compliance with all regulations was confirmed.

It cited a number of similar incidents at Bulgarian defence firms since 2011, saying that the latest was "no exception to the series of acts of sabotage against the Bulgarian defence industry".

"As the EU and Nato member state most severely affected by such actions, Bulgaria must join the collective effort to prevent and neutralise these attacks," EMCO said.

The firm is run by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, who Bulgarian prosecutors allege has already been targeted by Russian agents.

This includes a poisoning attempt in 2015 of Gebrev, his son and another company employee - three Russian nationals were later charged in absentia for attempted murder.

Bulgaria is a major weapons supplier to Ukraine, as it continues to repel a full-scale Russian invasion launched in 2022.

And although Sofia has recently halted state-owned arms supplies to Ukraine, Bulgarian private defence companies continue such transfers.

Russia appears to have recently escalated its sabotage campaign across Europe.

Last week, Germany said Russia was responsible for August's drone attack at Leipzig's airport - a claim denied by Moscow as "absurd".

There have also been a number of suspicious fires at defence facilities from Italy to Estonia, with some of the affected countries blaming Russia.