Sofia summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday to protest against the “
unacceptable
” placement on the wanted list of the director of the journalistic investigation site Bellingcat, the Bulgarian Hristo Grozev.
This attempt to "
intimidate a Bulgarian national
" is "
an attack on freedom of expression
", declared Prime Minister Galab Donev before the Council of Ministers.
“
Undesirable
” on Russian territory
But “
that does not mean that he will be wanted all over the world.
Nothing threatens him where he lives
,” she told reporters.
According to information available Monday on the website of the Russian Interior Ministry, the journalist is "
wanted for violation of an article of the Russian criminal code
".
In interviews with two Bulgarian television channels on Tuesday, Hristo Grozev, 53, said his life was in danger.
“
There are paramilitary units that would gladly give this gift [of killing me] to the Kremlin
,” he said, implying that he was not currently in Europe.
On Wednesday, the Bulgarian presidency told the BTA news agency that "
Bulgarian institutions (...) have taken measures to guarantee his safety, including in cooperation with partner services
".
Created in July 2014 by a British blogger, Eliot Higgins, the Bellingcat site, based in the Netherlands, specializes in journalism based on the analysis of data accessible to everyone online - Osint ("
Open source intelligence
" in English).
Bellingcat was already deemed by Moscow "
undesirable
" on Russian territory.
Read alsoRussia: the boss of the investigation site Bellingcat placed on the list of wanted persons
Lately, its journalists have been focusing mainly on the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
The site previously investigated the 2014 crash of flight MH17 which killed 298 in eastern Ukraine, the alleged involvement of Russian intelligence in the poisonings of double agent Sergei Skripal, of the between Alexei Navalny and Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Guebrev.
In September, Hristo Grozev, in charge of investigations on Moscow, assured in an interview with AFP that Bellingcat was "
the Kremlin's worst nightmare
".
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