Arrests of 3 Bulgarians in Moscow Confirmed after Diplomatic Premise Raid

Russian authorities have confirmed the arrest of three Bulgarian citizens in Moscow in the wake of Thurday’s raid of the Russian police on the Bulgarian Industrial Center in Russia’s capital.

Thursday night reports of the Bulgarian National Radio said the four men arrested were Nikolay Nikolov, Kostadin Kostov, Krasimir Velchev, and Simeon Borisov. The Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow said Friday Nikolov had actually not been arrested, and only his apartment had been searched.

The four men are connected with the Bulgarian company “Millenium 2001” whose offices and rented apartments at the Bulgarian Industrial Center in Moscow were targeted by the Russian police forces on Thursday. The exact positions of the four men at the company have not been made public yet.

Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Russia, Plamen Grozdanov, has stated the two countries were holding negotiations over the status of the buildings of the Bulgarian Industrial Center in Moscow. In his words, Bulgaria and Russia have been negotiating for years for the status of a number of real estate properties.

Bulgaria claims the Industrial Center enjoys diplomatic immunity and the Russian side has not rejected this claim categorically, Ambassador Grozdanov said.

He also announced he did not have exact information about the searches and items taken by the Russian police during their Thursday’s raid at the Bulgarian Industrial Center in Moscow.

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