An explosion occurred at the ammunition warehouse of the EMKO company in the Bulgarian city of Karnobatom.
BNR writes about it.
It is reported that a fire broke out in the warehouse, which was later extinguished. People were not injured. The scene was examined by a drone, the territory was closed for three days.
The owner of the company, Omelyan Gebrev, explained to the newspaper that obsolete ammunition was stored in the warehouse, which had been ordered by the companies but had not been paid for. "There is no human error here. At 04:00, there was an explosion, and then the warehouse caught fire. What was inside, no one can say. It is forbidden to go inside for 24 hours, but these are, in principle, ammunition that is no longer needed at the factory. Some company once ordered something, then due to non-payment they did not receive the goods, and we kept them," Gebrev explained.
- On April 18, 2021, the Czech government accused the Russian Intelligence of organizing an explosion at an ammunition depot near Vrbetice in 2014. These warehouses belonged to Gebrev. After that, the country announced the expulsion of 70 people, including diplomats. As a sign of solidarity, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Slovakia began expelling Russian diplomats. Subsequently, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic called on EU countries to expel at least one Russian diplomat each.
- Investigative journalists reported that the explosions were organized by unit 29155 of the GRU of Russia in order to disrupt the supply of ammunition to Ukraine. The operation was led by General Andrii Averyanov, and among the executors were the Skripalsʼ poisoners in Great Britain — Oleksandr Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga. The same group is involved in two attempts to poison Gebrev, whose ammunition was stored in a Czech warehouse.
- At the end of June, the Czech Republic demanded €25.5 million from Russia for the explosions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation announced extortion.