Bulgaria issues EU entry ban on 2 Russians suspected of espionage

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian authorities on Monday imposed an entry ban on two Russian citizens suspected of espionage for Moscow’s foreign intelligence service. Bulgaria’s agency for national security identified the two as 39-year-old Vladimir Nikolayevich Gorochkin and 37-year-old Tatiana Anatolievna Gorochkina, and barred them from entering European Union member states for a period of five years. The agency said in a statement that the couple had lived undetected in Bulgaria until recently under the aliases Denis Rashkov and Diana Rashkova. The statement indicated they were no longer in Bulgaria, but did not elaborate on when they had left the country, or indicate where they currently were believed to be.