Bulgaria seeks suspects in Germany after Starlink sabotage
A Bulgarian court has issued arrest warrants for two young German nationals suspected of setting fire to Starlink antennas. The case is reminiscent of another in Poland, which Warsaw says was orchestrated by Russia.
Bulgaria has issued European arrest warrants for two German teenagers, alleging their involvement in sabotaging Starlink antennae near Sofia. The court in Sofia determined that there are reasonable grounds to suspect the defendants, following a request from prosecutors. Ukraine relies on Starlink's military-grade satellite internet service, Starshield, for battlefield communications during Russia's invasion. Although Bulgaria does not directly border Ukraine, it is situated on the Black Sea, a conflict zone.
A comparable incident in Poland led to the arrests of four German nationals last week. The suspects in Poland were accused of deliberately setting fire to the antennae and entered the country from Serbia in a car with German license plates, claiming to be tourists. They stayed for a few hours around the time of the alleged crime.
Plamen Tonchev, head of Bulgaria's domestic intelligence agency, DANS, is operating under the assumption that the sabotage was deliberate and warns that other such acts may occur in the future. The news of the arrests follows a week after four people were apprehended in Germany for the same alleged sabotage in central Poland.
German police detained three men and a woman, two of them Turkish nationals, early last week. Polish officials suspect Russia was behind the sabotage, describing it as an act of "hybrid warfare." The domestic intelligence agency also claims that Russia collaborated with organized crime elements in Germany on the operation.
Meanwhile, Lithuania's prime minister suggested on Sunday that Russia may be responsible for an attempted arson attack on a company hosting Starlink satellite communication hardware.
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