Bulgarian involved in Romania spying scandal was hired by Romanian secret services in June 2008

Marinov Zikolov, a Bulgarian citizen involved in an espionage case recently revealed in Romania, has worked for the Romanian secret services for almost 10 months, starting June 2008, Romanian news channel Realitatea TV informs, quoting the official document issued for the arrest of Zikolov and for a Romanian low-ranked officer, also accused of espionage.

According to quoted sources, the Bulgarian agent presented to Romanian investigators all activities he was conducting in our country, including a list with foreign collaborators, starting June 2008. Romania’s Intelligence Service (SRI) had claimed that the Bulgarian citizen worked for other specialized services, abroad.

On the other hand, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service denied any connection with Ukraine’s military attache, Serghei Ilnitki, who was expelled on Monday. According to Romanian daily Gandul, quoting Svobodnaia Pressa, Russia wishes to distance itself from the issue.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Services spokesperson Serghei Ivanov declared that the incident was not Russia’s problem since the expelled attache was Ukrainian not Russian. He added that Ukrainian diplomats were the ones in position to comment the situation.