Unidentified individuals in Bulgaria set fire to 11 of the 17 Starlink antennas: station serves, amongst others, members of Ukrainian Armed Forces
At a site near the capital of Bulgaria, a fire destroyed or damaged more than half of the antennas belonging to the Starlink satellite system. The arson was first reported by an opposition MP, and the incident was later confirmed by the country’s Prime Minister, Rumen Radev.
Novinite reports on this, according to Censor.NET.
What is known about the arson attack
According to Ivaylo Mirchev, an MP from the ‘Yes, Bulgaria’ party, unknown individuals set fire to 11 of the 17 Starlink communication antennas at a site near Sofia.
He was the first to report this and criticised the Ministry of the Interior and the media for remaining silent about the incident. It is not known exactly when the arson took place, but the first report appeared on the evening of 12 October.
Insider has discovered that a fire broke out on the antennas near the ‘Plana’ satellite communications station, south of Sofia. This station serves, amongst others, the Ukrainian military.
Mirchev pointed out that just a few days ago, the head of the State Agency for National Security (DANB) had assured the National Security Advisory Council at a meeting that counter-intelligence was taking very active measures to counteract acts of sabotage linked to Russia.
"Clearly, they are not doing their job properly", wrote the MP.
The authorities’ reaction
During parliamentary hearings on 14 October, Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed the incident. He declined to disclose any details, citing an investigation which, he said, was being conducted "with great intensity".
"The investigation is ongoing, and it is extremely intensive. I urge the head of the State Security Service not to disclose any details at this stage, despite your keen interest. But this is only a matter of a very short time. We are working with our partner agencies to bring this operation to a successful conclusion", — stated the Prime Minister.
According to Radev, if the head of the State Security Service and the police start revealing exactly what has been established, this will prevent the desired outcome from being achieved, but the investigation is under control.
The Minister of the Interior, Ivan Demerdzhiev, added that security at such sites has been stepped up. According to him, responsibility for their security lies with the owners, but the Ministry of the Interior has taken additional measures to protect such sites across the country.
A similar case in Poland
- This is not the first incident of its kind. On 23 September, a fire broke out at a Starlink ground station in Wola Krobowska, in the Masovian Voivodeship in eastern Poland. A spokesperson for the Polish National Prosecutor’s Office stated that the investigation had reasonable grounds to believe that the perpetrators may have been acting on the instructions of the Russian secret services and on behalf of a foreign intelligence service against Poland.
- The suspects were arrested in Germany on 12 October — they turned out to be two Turkish nationals. According to Rzeczpospolita, they were first arrested the day after the fire, but were mistakenly released at that time.
