Just days before parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on Sunday, dozens of schools across the country and Sofia University of Economics were evacuated following bomb alerts. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the capital, investigations into “crimes against the republic” were launched today.
So far, the police have not found any explosive devices in the schools, which have received corresponding information by email or telephone since the beginning of the week.
The main assumption is that these are “hybrid attacks” that are “somehow connected to Russia”, said Acting Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev. Bulgaria asked partner services in Europe and the US to help identify the sender of the emails.
EU and NATO member Bulgaria will elect a new parliament on April 2, with most polling stations located in schools. “The electoral process is only stopped when there is a real danger,” said Demerdzhiev. With the information received so far, there is no real threat, he said.