Russian spies charged in poisonings

Prosecutors in Bulgaria announced criminal charges Thursday against three Russian spies from a secretive assassination unit for the 2015 poisoning of a prominent Bulgarian arms manufacturer.

The three men slipped into the country using fake passports and, according to prosecutors, used an organophosphate poison in an attempt “to deliberately kill” the arms manufacturer, Emilian Gebrev, along with his son and a top executive in his company.

Although the victims survived, the poisoning in central Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, endangered the lives of numerous people, the Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement.

Prosecutors released few details about the Russian spies Thursday.

In Sofia, the operatives checked into a hotel near Gebrev’s offices. One of the men then slipped into the underground parking garage and, according to grainy surveillance video, appeared to smear a substance on the door handles of cars belonging to the victims.

That was just the first poisoning. Investigators said that after failing to kill Gebrev and the others, two operatives returned a month later and poisoned him and his son again while they were convalescing at their home. Again, they failed to kill their victims, though Gebrev said his business continues to suffer.

In the statement Thursday, the Prosecutor General’s office said European arrest warrants and Interpol red notices — requests that other countries arrest suspects — had been filed.

The Kremlin is unlikely to hand over its operatives to face prosecution.