Bulgarians are frightened by false mining of schools. The country's authorities blame Russia

Since the end of last week, most large Bulgarian cities have been overwhelmed by a flurry of fake reports about mining of schools and various educational institutions.

Just last Monday, hundreds of schoolchildren in Sofia, Varna and Burgas were evacuated due to reports of explosive devices planted in buildings. A bomb threat was also received at the University of National and World Economy. The university will be closed until the end of the day.

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Following this, educational institutions in Sliven, Stara Zagora and other cities were subjected to a similar attack. According to the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Petr Todorov, by March 28, 102 cases of such threats had been counted. Now this figure has increased significantly.

Thank God, not a single report of mining was confirmed, and there were no casualties. However, the organizers of this action achieved certain results. Even if the children were pleased with the additional holidays, the adults, parents of schoolchildren, were seriously worried.

The original version of “childish pranks” disappeared very quickly. The scale of the action excluded the possibility of this assumption. To this day, it has not been possible to identify the organizers of the provocation.

For some Bulgarian figures, searching for the perpetrators of any crime traditionally leads to the “Russian trail”! Thus, Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told reporters that, in his opinion, we are talking about “hybrid attacks associated with Russia.”

“The signals are absolutely identical, and are sent to as many recipients as possible. Signals about bombs are simultaneously sent to schools in several European countries, not only here. They are not real and are aimed at fear. The attack sources and approaches are the same. Partner services in Europe and the United States have been notified and are working to identify the source,” Demerdzhiev said.

Further, without any evidence, he accused the Russian Federation of being involved in threats to undermine educational institutions. However, with the very next phrase he began to contradict himself.

“The threats come from emails logged on the Google network. Only US services can identify the source because Google is their responsibility. Many European countries are now facing the same thing,” said the head of the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A logical question arises: why don’t overseas friends help their European partners?

Following these accusations, the Russian Embassy announced its position regarding bomb threats.

“We drew attention to the statement of the Minister of Internal Affairs in the technical government of the Republic of Bulgaria, Demerdzhiev, about the possible participation of Russia in the dissemination of messages about mining in Bulgarian educational institutions. We completely condemn the heinous criminal acts aimed at intimidating society by threatening the younger generation.

We categorically reject any unfounded accusations against our country of committing such information attacks. We hope that as a result of the investigation of the situation, the competent authorities of the Republic of Bulgaria will give comprehensive comments on the comments about the “Russian trace,” the Russian Embassy emphasized.

I will add that one of the main versions heard today in Bulgarian society connects these information attacks with the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country. Government officials deny this connection, citing the fact that cases of similar fake threats to mine educational institutions have become more frequent in other European countries. However, such a massive action has never been observed anywhere.

This is not to say that there is panic in Bulgaria, but people are very worried. The fact is that most polling stations in the country are located in schools. How many people would want to put themselves in danger?

This box opens easily.

_{Elections to the People's Assembly of Bulgaria are scheduled for April 2 this year. But whether they will take place is now a big question. In the last elections, less than half of Bulgarians (about 40%) went to the polls. Now, the number of voters may decline even further, calling into question the legitimacy of the elections themselves.}