site.btaDeputy PMs Dismiss Serbian MP's Allegations about Bulgarian Involvement in Spy Scandal in Serbia

November 22 (BTA) - Serbian National Assembly Committee on Kosovo-Metohija
Chairperson Milovan Drecun alleged on Thursday that a "Bulgarian
 investigative reporter" and the Bulgarian State had a hand in a
 video leaked to the local media, showing a former Russian
deputy defence attache in Belgrade, identified as Lieutenant
Colonel Georgy Kleban, giving cash to a Serbian retired
lieutenant colonel. Drecun, who is believed to be close to
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, said that Bulgaria has an
exceedingly powerful intelligence presence in Serbia and that
spies from Bulgaria, Croatia and North Macedonia operate from a
clandestine intelligence centre in Skopje.

Interviewed on Nova TV, Zaharieva described this as "the latest
in a series of ridiculous and false accusations by that MP
against Bulgaria." "What I see in this video is an intelligence
officer not of Bulgaria but of another country recruiting
high-ranking Serbian military." "We are perplexed by these
allegations and deny them categorically," the Foreign Minister
said. "I strongly hope that this is a personal opinion of that
particular MP and not an opinion of the top leadership and
President Vucic. I hope this is not an official Serbian
position," she pointed out. She had contacted the Bulgarian
Ambassador in Belgrade, and the Serbian Ambassador in Sofia will
 most probably be summoned to her Ministry and told that his
country should refrain from such statements. Zaharieva advised
Serbia to focus on its internal problem rather than "try to seek
 justifications in its neighbours". She recalled that Bulgaria
has always backed Serbia's European integration, but such
statements do not foster the good bilateral relationship and are
 by no means consistent with the spirit of goodwill existing
between the two countries.

For his part, Karakachanov said in Parliament's lobby that
Drecun's accusations do not correspond to the truth. "The fact
that Serbia is having problems does not mean that Bulgaria
should be a scapegoat, serving to deflect attention from its
internal problems," the Deputy PM pointed out. LG



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