Bulgaria issues arrest warrants against Germans over Starlink arson

A court in Sofia has approved European arrest warrants for two 19-year-old German nationals accused of setting fire to Starlink satellite antennas near the Bulgarian capital, German magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing a court spokeswoman who spoke to news agency dpa.

Prosecutors accuse the two men of setting fire to several antennas at a site in Plana, south of Sofia, on the night of 9 October. Public broadcaster BNT reported that 18 antennas were at the site, of which three were completely destroyed; the pro-Western opposition alliance Democratic Bulgaria, which first made the incident public, had said 11 antennas were set alight.

The suspects face prison sentences of three to 12 years if convicted, N1 Slovenija reported. Their lawyers intend to appeal against the court's decision to issue the warrants.

According to the indictment, the two men entered Bulgaria from Serbia through the Kalotina border crossing in a car with German number plates, and left the country again just a few hours later; Ukrainska Pravda reported the vehicle was registered to a third German national. Bulgarian media reported unofficially that the two suspects were later arrested.

Plamen Tonchev, head of Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security, told parliament he believed the fire was an act of sabotage. "Such acts of sabotage cannot be ruled out in the future either," he said.

The Starlink satellite network is a strategically important part of Ukraine's defence against Russia's invasion. The incident follows a string of recent attacks on Starlink-related infrastructure: a ground station south of Warsaw was set on fire in late September, which the Polish government suspects Russian intelligence services of being behind, and two suspects were arrested near Stuttgart in connection with that case. Lithuania's prime minister, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, separately disclosed an attempted arson attack on a Lithuanian company storing Starlink equipment near Vilnius.