site.btaForeign Minister Says Sailors on Detained Vessel Vezhen Are Free to Disembark

Interviewed by bTV on Sunday evening, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev said the sailors aboard the vessel Vezhen owned by Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar are free to disembark and the decision to remain on board is their own.

Georgiev said: "They are free to leave the ship, and the decision to stay on board is their own. In my opinion, this is part of their sense of responsibility to their post. An investigation is underway and the vessel has been detained, but the Bulgarian sailors are free - they can move around the ship or disembark if they choose."

"I am deeply convinced that there are no grounds for talking about culpable conduct," said Georgiev. "There was a very strong storm on the night when the cable was breached, so it could be an incident caused by weather conditions. We are confident in the innocence of our sailors," the Foreign Minister said.

"I do not believe that this vessel can be considered part of a dark fleet, especially since there is no evidence to support such claims in any way," he added.

On January 27, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said it had launched a preliminary investigation on suspicion of sabotage, after the detention of the Vezhen in the Baltic Sea, as it was suspected of damaging an underwater fibre optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland.

On February 1, Stefan Stoykov, head of the Consular Service at the Bulgarian Embassy in Stockholm, met with all eight Bulgarian crew members on board and had the opportunity to speak with them for three hours.