Subversive campaign targets strategic defence project in Bulgaria

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and Bulgaria’s state-owned military enterprise VMZ are set to establish a joint company to produce gunpowder and artillery shells, with a total investment expected to exceed €1 billion. But a subversive campaign risks derailing these plans.

Bulgaria plays a pivotal role in Europe’s defence landscape, with “Vazovski Mashinostroitelni Zavodi” (VMZ) in the Bulgarian city of Sopot at its heart, in partnership with Rheinmetall, set to produce gunpowder and artillery shells. But suddenly VMZ came under fire with accusation of corruption, syphoning the company and sexual misconduct, putting the partnership at risk.

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President Rumen Radev previously claimed that he helped establish the strategic partnership between VMZ and Rheinmetall. Surprisingly, he said on Monday (15 September) that he will refer the matter of wrongdoings at VMZ to the prosecutor’s office and the national security agency, based on information he received from vlogger Stanislav Tsanov.

Tsanov, who enjoys a big audience in his YouTube channel, is a former anchor of Alpha, the TV channel of the now-defunct extremist party Ataka. He gained followers thanks to his anti-vaxxer messages during the Covid crisis. Many of his posts mirror Russian propaganda and disinformation.

Radev received Tsanov in his office after the visit of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to VMZ on 31 August, when she said that that approximately one-third of the weapons supplied to Ukraine since the onset of the war originate from Bulgaria.

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On 6 September, the vlogger published on his YouTube channel allegations by an anonymous informant about scandalous violations at VMZ. They are related to low wages, harmful working conditions, sexual harassment, schemes with arms dealers that harm and syphon the company.

Perhaps the most serious accusation was that the German company’s alleged hidden goal is to privatise VMZ, by concluding a contract that the plants cannot fulfill, and hints that the German company had an “agent” inside VMZ.

In response to questions from EUalive.net, the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the principal of VMZ-Sopot, stated that they could not comment at this stage.

“The Ministry of Economy and Industry has not received and does not have the signals that have been submitted to the Presidency and the competent authorities,” they announced.

The meeting with the vlogger, which the office of the president announced in an official press release, is unprecedented, as the head of state is for the first time turning a YouTuber into an institutional source of information about corruption in a state-owned company.

“Attempt at sabotage”

On this occasion, Yavor Bozhankov, a politician from the opposition reformist party PP-DB, commented on Facebook that he had never seen “a more inept and brazen attempt at sabotage”.

“The chief kopeck of the state first boasts that it is attracting German investment in Bulgaria, and then brings YouTubers into the presidency who claim that Germany wants to take over our factory, including through accusations of espionage. This is what the Bulgarian head of state will turn into an official signal to the competent authorities,” Bozhankov wrote.

“Kopeck” is a way to describe pro-Russian politicians in Bulgaria, in particular representatives of the extremist party “Vazrazhdane”, with the assumption that they get some remuneration from Moscow.

The video published on Tsanov’s channel alternates between his comments on Bulgaria’s arms industry, footage from the visit of von der Leyen to VMZ, and her and the Bulgarian Prime Minister’s statements in support of Ukraine and footage of protests by “Vazrazhdane” in front of the VMZ portal and the EU flag with a black swastika painted on it and its burning.

His conversation with a masked man wearing black glasses, a black balaclava and a black jacket allegedly working at VMZ, who answered Tsanov’s questions, is also placed in this context. During the conversation, the masked man was reportedly working at VMZ.

Speaking to EUalive, Tsanov said that the authorities quickly found who his source was and fired him. Asked why the informant turned to him, and further to the president and not to the prosecutor’s office, Tsanov said that the only reason for doing so was that the informant “does not trust the institutions and thinks that it will get worse if he turns to them”.

“He trusts the president and the president will refer DANS (the State Agency for National Security) and the prosecutor’s office”, said the vlogger.

At the meeting with the president, the man, whose identity was revealed in the meantime, sat on one side of Tsanov, and on the other was a young woman who claims she was sexually harassed by a foreman at VMZ.

On the topic of sexual harassment, he explained that the scheme was like this – “if you (a female employee) want to receive bonuses, you accept the offers of your superiors”. “The basic salary there is very low, and the bonuses are important. The woman contacted me, sent me the chats (with the foreman),” said the vlogger.

Tsanov said that VMZ bosses and trade unionists are putting pressure on his informant “in the style of the Islamic State” and there have even been “death threats”.

“They are threatening and crushing him. He was locked in an office and forced to accept the absurd version that an unknown man stopped him in the forest and handed him a sheet of talking points,” Tsanov explained. “But he made a recording and we will broadcast this material in the next video,” the vlogger said.

Asked why he published the video now, after the partnership with Rheinmetall became known, Tsanov explained that “the timing is irrelevant, it was a coincidence.” He considers the Minister of Economy to be a proxy for Peevski, which is why he did not contact the ministry, Tsanov replied to a question from EUalive.net.

Apart from Bozhankov, no other politician has commented on the attempt to create a scandal affecting Rheinmetal’s joint venture in Bulgaria.

A longer version of this article can be found here. Edited by g.g.

Caption: At the meeting with president Rumen Radev, the man, whose identity was revealed in the meantime, sat on one side of blogger Stanislav Tsanov, and on the other was a young woman who claims she was sexually harassed by a foreman at VMZ. Source: website of the President of Bulgaria.