Bulgarian Alfa-Metal offers military training - suspected of having Russian customers

Bulgarian Alfa-Metal sells courses in everything from pistol shooting and close combat to drone warfare. According to intelligence information from Australia that the Telegraph has obtained, the company is suspected of having Russians as customers - and instructors from the British elite SAS and from American special forces.

On the website are the logos of the units, they have advertised for SAS veterans, and at least one instructor with a background in the US police and army is presented by name. The company has a training facility with shooting ranges and airstrip in Mejdeni in northern Bulgaria. According to the newspaper, there should be the same type of training facilities in Serbia as well.

The information that Russians would be "trained by British special forces to kill Ukrainians" attracts a lot of attention, but is however dismissed by other former members of the unit, who believe that this should be known, and that it is seen as a kind of betrayal.

Alfa-Metal categorically denies that it has Russians as customers, but admits that it previously had contacts with the company Alfa Region in Russia, also a private security company.

According to the military expert Johan Huovinen, teacher of military strategy at the Norwegian Defense Academy, this type of private military companies is not unusual. They train everything from mercenaries to people who want to work as, for example, bodyguards, and who "want a course in close combat on their CV".

He does not believe that it would involve training Russians for combat in Ukraine to any great extent.

- The customers could be companies in logistics that have some mission to the front, that they must deliver something. Then maybe they need their own guard soldiers. Or Russian defense industry, we know that they are sometimes at the front to test their equipment. Then you may need to train personnel to be able to defend against Ukrainian attacks, he says.

It is also not certain that any Russians trained by Alfa-Metal will go to Ukraine, it could just as well be mercenaries going to countries in Africa, Huovinen believes.

He also points out that the data seems to extend until 2025, so the question is whether it is current.

Bulgaria is a common gateway for Russians to the EU, as there are many who hold dual citizenship. It is therefore not unlikely that Russians could travel to Alfa-Metal for courses. But Huovinen believes it is less likely that the instructors from Europe would act as trainers for Russians who will fight in Ukraine.

Following the Telegraph's publication, the Bulgarian opposition has demanded that the government get to the bottom of the data.