Bulgarian authorities are investigating a fire at a munitions factory for links to an explosion at a similar facility in August. Arms maker EMCO says no human error was involved, as investigators look at sabotage.
Bulgarian authorities are investigating a fire at a munitions storage facility operated by arms maker EMCO.
Police say the blaze broke out Friday night and follows a similar incident at another EMCO site in August.
EMCO’s munitions are used in Ukraine and sabotage has not been ruled out, video images of the fire broadcast locally showed it illuminating the night sky near the village of Tsareva Livada.
The full extent of the damage is not yet known but no casualties have been reported.
“At present there is no danger to the population,” said local police, adding that employees had been evacuated and the area cordoned off.
EMCO has ruled out any possibility of human error in the incident.
On Saturday, Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev announced an investigation, saying, “We will review previous cases in which similar fires occurred in the warehouses of this company, as well as at other companies, in order to look for a possible connection or a similar pattern.”
EMCO production facilities manager Slavcho Dimiev confirmed the fire as well, saying the site mainly stores ammunition, including a small quantity of medium-caliber rounds.
Dimiev told reporters additional security measures should be considered to protect arms facilities.
“If it is ultimately concluded that they [arms facilities] have been targeted,” he said, “this is not an attack on a particular company alone; it is an attack on the national interest.”
EMCO fire latest of several attacks attributed to Russia
NATO member-state Bulgaria has supported Kyiv’s self-defense efforts since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
And EMCO, like other European arms manufacturers, has been the target of repeated sabotage.
The company is run by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, the survivor of an assassination attempt that authorities there say was carried out by Russian operatives. Three Russian nationals were charged over the incident.
In 2024, Bulgaria also issued arrest warrants for six Russian nationals that prosecutors say were involved in the destruction of EMCO arms depots storing munitions set for export to Ukraine and Georgia between 2011 and 2020.
At the time, prosecutors argued that they had uncovered links between the attempt on Gebrev, sabotage at Bulgarian arms depots and explosions at a munitions depot in the Czech Republic in 2014.
Friday’s fire at EMCO echoes a number of recent attacks targeting European arms makers supplying Ukraine.
On August 13, the KNDS Ammo Italy arms manufacturing facility outside Rome was rocked by an explosion. Although the Italian government said it had no reason to believe that Russia was behind the attack, the Franco-German defense company said the incident was under investigation.
On September 3, incendiary devices were thrown near the Munich headquarters of defense technology company Rohde & Schwarz.
EMCO’s Gebrev is not alone in being targeted either.
In 2024, US and German intelligence uncovered a Russian plot to assassinate Armin Papperger, the CEO of Germany’s largest arms manufacturer, Rheinmetall.
In all instances, Russia has denied involvement, calling accusations European war mongering.
Edited by: Kieran Burke
DW News
