Bulgaria has warned that leftist open borders groups are working in conjunction with people smuggling networks and Russian intelligence services to facilitate illegal immigration into Europe.
Moscow is allegedly using its intelligence apparatus to help human traffickers and “neo-Marxist” open borders organisations pinpoint weaknesses in Europe’s borders to smuggle migrants into the bloc and to train illegals on best practices to avoid deportation, Bulgarian Interior Minister Daniel Mitov told The Times of London.
He claimed that Sofia has collected evidence directly tying Russia’s foreign intelligence service to the people smuggling gangs responsible for helping illegals break into Europe and the UK with the aim of destabilising the West.
“Illegal migration inflows are an instrument for hostile regimes to destabilize the European Union and the United Kingdom,” Mitov said. “They are aiming to destabilise the welfare systems. Plus, of course … through smuggling radicalised individuals, they create security issues for us.”
The government minister also said that Bulgaria is investigating the role of multiple far-left pro-migration NGOs, which he said may be acting as effective ‘useful idiots’ in Russia’s scheme to create instability in Europe.
“They are neo-Marxist groups which are trying to justify their actions through philosophical or ideological constructs. Basically, let’s get all the poor people from the world and let them establish themselves here, the absolute freedom of movement, the non-existence of borders and so on and so forth,” Mitov said.
“So unfortunately, we do have challenges with such non-governmental organisations which, maybe unwittingly, take part in the operations of those hostile states and the criminal networks which smuggle people illegally into the territory of the EU and the UK.”
The issue has become more pressing for Bulgaria in recent months after it officially joined the European Union’s passport-free Schengen area at the start of this year. Mitov said that this has meant that Bulgaria’s 161-mile border with Turkey has now become a new “gateway to Europe”.
“Now it is time to build a home and preserve our internal freedoms. Not a fortress but a home which needs walls. Every house needs walls. Those walls need to be solid and there are gates through which every guest can enter,” he said.
Both the Islamist regime of Recep Erdoğan in Ankara and the autocratic government of Vladimir Putin in Moscow have long faced accusations of weaponising illegal migration amid political disputes with Europe. This has seen EU nations such as Greece and Poland erect Trump-style border walls to prevent illegals crossing into their country.
Previously, Warsaw was forced to vigorously defend its borders from hoards of migrants who were allegedly bussed in by the Moscow puppet regime of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, whose government is reported to have lured migrants from the Middle East with promises of passage to Germany and the bounty of its generous welfare state.
The disclosures from Mitov come ahead of a London summit this week of European nations, including Bulgaria, in which UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will hold talks on confronting illegal immigration into through the western Balkans.
Starmer will also reportedly seek to strike a deal with non-EU partners in the region to potentially establish “return hubs” for failed asylum seekers, in a similar move to the previous Tory-era deal made with Rwanda, which Starmer’s government immediately scrapped upon taking office last year.
Commenting on Mitov’s revelations, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It is clear that illegal migration into Europe and beyond is being driven not just by organised crime networks seeking to make a profit, but by hostile state actors seeking to destabilise Europe.
“That threat is real, growing and very serious, and I have made clear that we need to expand and strengthen our international co-operation to tackle it together.”
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