Bulgaria's interior minister: Russia is leading theory in Black Sea ship attacks

Russia may be behind the attacks on ships in the Black Sea, Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said on Sunday evening, telling bTV's "120 Minutes" programme that one intelligence service had named this as the leading theory at the Consultative Council for National Security. The theory is being checked, he said. The attacks took place in international waters within Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, where the country must conduct rescues but cannot act against vessels or aircraft.

Asked about emailed bomb threats which, according to the cybercrime police, also targeted him personally, the minister said his security had not been stepped up and he was not afraid. He said he saw an "extremely unpleasant pattern", with the waves coinciding with his disclosures in parliament about flights taken by DPS leader Delyan Peevski. He stopped short of naming Peevski as being behind the threats but said someone clearly wanted to shift public attention.

Peevski does not deny the flights but says he and his family paid for them, and whoever makes such claims must prove them, Demerdzhiev said, according to the BTA news agency. Part of the evidence on alleged misuse of public funds in public contracts, with road crash barriers only one of the sectors involved, is already with prosecutors.