Bulgarian authorities are investigating an overnight fire and series of explosions at an ammunition storage facility belonging to private defence company EMCO, near the central village of Gorni Varpishta, approximately 170 kilometres east of the capital Sofia. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said investigators are "not ruling out outside interference," while EMCO itself was more direct, declaring the incident an act of sabotage and stating that human error had been "completely ruled out." No casualties were reported; security personnel on site evacuated in time, and authorities confirmed the nearby village faced no direct danger.
The fire, which broke out on the night of 11 September, spread from one warehouse to two adjacent buildings before firefighters brought it under control. EMCO noted the affected facility had been dormant for months and had passed a compliance inspection just 20 days prior. The incident is the second to strike an EMCO site in quick succession — on 10 August, a separate EMCO ammunition depot near the town of Belitsa was also destroyed by fire, with prosecutors already investigating that blaze.
The pattern of incidents points to a longer history of suspected Russian interference targeting Bulgarian defence infrastructure. Six Russian nationals have been charged in connection with four explosions at Bulgarian arms facilities between 2011 and 2020, which prosecutors believe were remotely triggered and linked to efforts to disrupt weapons deliveries to Georgia and Ukraine. EMCO's owner, arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, survived a poisoning in 2015 along with his son and another company executive — three Russian nationals were subsequently charged in absentia for attempted murder. Moscow has consistently denied involvement in all such cases.
Bulgaria, an EU and NATO member state on the southeastern edge of the European Union, has been a significant supplier of weapons to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Although the Bulgarian government has recently paused state-level arms transfers to Ukraine, private companies like EMCO continue such deliveries. EMCO called on Bulgaria to "join the collective effort to prevent and neutralise these attacks," describing the country as the EU and NATO member "most severely affected" by such actions.
The Bulgarian incident is part of a broader pattern of suspicious incidents at defence-related sites across Europe. Germany has officially accused Russia of an August drone attack targeting Leipzig airport, a key logistics hub for NATO and Ukrainian aid — a claim Moscow dismisses as "absurd." Incendiary devices were thrown near a defence company's offices in Munich earlier this month, and an ammunition plant near Rome operated by arms manufacturer KNDS was hit by an explosion in August. Following the Gorni Varpishta fire, Bulgaria's interior minister announced that security checks at similar facilities across the country would be tightened as a precautionary measure.