Bulgarian authorities have blocked two Russian citizens from entering the European Union for five years, accusing them of setting up identities in order to begin spying.
The State Agency for National Security (DANS) said the two had previously been living in Bulgaria as Denis Rashkov and Diana Rashkova, but are in fact Russian operatives named Vladimir Nikolaevich Gorochkin and Tatiana Anatolievna Gorochkina.
“Vladimir Gorochkin and Tatiana Gorochkina are illegal intelligence officers, participants in an operation of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, aimed at carrying out intelligence penetration using foreign identities,” said a statement by DANS, which also released the pair’s dates and places of birth.
