site.btaUPDATED Detained Interior Ministry Officer Provided Russia with Information from Bulgarian, Partner Security Services and Agencies - Prosecutor

The employee of the Interior Ministry's General Directorate Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC), who was detained on Monday on suspicion of spying, has provided information from Bulgarian and partner services and agencies to a representative of Russia's intelligence services, said here on Tuesday the supervising prosecutor in the pre-trial proceedings, Angel Kanev, at a press conference.

On Monday, Interior Ministry staffer was detained during a raid in the Directorate he worked for over suspicion of espionage activities in favor of another country. It transpired that the officer's actions have been monitored for several months but less than a year.

The officer was detained for up to 72 hours. The man is currently being charged and will be held liable for espionage.

The deputy head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), Petar Petrov, said that an employee of the Agency was caught in contact with the detained officer. Actions have been taken to determine the nature of their communication, he added. Whether he will be charged remains to be seen, measures have been taken to restrict his access, Petrov said of the SANS employee.

Head of GDCOC Yavor Serafimov said that the detained officer is 57 years-old and has worked at the Interior Ministry since 1993. He added that he was awarded on numerous occasions, but also disciplined in the past, including by reprimand, which is the most serious disciplinary action before dismissal. The suspected spy has worked at the International Cooperation and Projects directorate since 2017. He also served on a mission to Kosovo for one year in the 2001-2002 period.

The Interior Ministry told BTA earlier on Tuesday that the head of the Ministry's Internal Security Directorate, Georgi Georgiev, has been dismissed from office until the disciplinary proceedings initiated against him are concluded. The Directorate, tasked with investigating violations and crimes committed by Interior Ministry personnel, declined to provide more information about the reasons for the disciplinary proceedings.