{"id":28016,"date":"2015-09-18T14:51:40","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T14:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/?p=28016"},"modified":"2015-09-23T14:16:20","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T14:16:20","slug":"buzzfeed-bulgaria-is-major-supplier-of-weapons-sent-from-u-s-to-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/buzzfeed-bulgaria-is-major-supplier-of-weapons-sent-from-u-s-to-syria.html","title":{"rendered":"BuzzFeed: Bulgaria Is Major Supplier of Weapons Sent from U.S. to Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weapons for Syrian rebels, paid by the U.S., come mainly from Bulgaria. A Bulgarian company has concealed the purchase of 700 Russian-designed Konkurs missiles from Belarus to circumvent the restrictions on weapons trade with which US companies must comply. The American citizen, who was killed by a blast at the Anevo arms range in Bulgaria, is Francis Norvillo, 41, U.S. Navy veteran and an expert armorer, employed by a subcontractor company. This is revealed in an investigation of the well-known American investigative journalist Aram Roston, published on the site BuzzFeed<\/a>. Roston<\/a> relies on confidential sources and has published documents.<\/p>\n

Soon after the incident in Anevo, the U.S. Embassy in Sofia released a statement revealing the name of the company contracted by the American government to buy and supply the weapons for the Syria operation – Purple Shovel. \u201cWhen Purple Shovel was awarded those crucial contracts, according to a federal procurement database, the company had just six employees and annual revenue of less than 2 million US dollars\u201d, BuzzFeed has further discovered.<\/p>\n

According to the publication, \u201cPurple Shovel\u2019s big break came in December 2014, when it won two contracts totaling more than $50 million for the Syria program from the Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, which coordinates the activities of America\u2019s most elite military units\u201d. Documents and sources familiar with the procurement operation in Bulgaria further reveal that the supplies \u201cincluded 12,640 armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades, of a type called the PG-7VM, along with hundreds of shoulder-mounted launchers. Then there were 6,240 even longer-range anti-tank grenades called PG-9Vs, which are fired from launchers called SPG-9s\u201d.<\/p>\n

In turn, Purple Shovel contracted as primary procurement subcontractor Regulus Global, and the latter \u201carranged to buy the grenades from a Bulgarian firm, Algans Ltd\u201d.<\/p>\n

The second contract, for 23.5 million US dollars, was for training and equipment. According to BuzzFeed sources, SkyBridge Tactical was a subcontractor to Purple Shovel for this contract and SkyBridge Tactical hired Francis Norvillo. The American expert \u201cwas supposed to receive training meant to familiarize him with the rocket-propelled grenades so that he would be prepared to train American soldiers who would, in turn, train the Syrian rebels\u201d. In order to do this, Algans Ltd rented the arms range in Anevo. The tragic incident happened when Francis Norvillo fired an obsolete grenade, manufactured in 1984.<\/p>\n

According to BuzzFeed, \u201cPurple Shovel was also contracted to acquire 700 Russian-designed Konkurs missiles for the Syria mission\u201d, but\u2026 \u201cBulgaria, the source for most of the weapons for the Syria operation, didn\u2019t have any\u201d, and Belarus, ruled by \u201cPresident Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin\u201d, had \u201cplenty\u201d of them. Belarus is on a special U.S. blacklist of countries with bans or special restrictions. In order to circumvent the embargo, an unnamed Bulgarian company has purchased 700 Konkurs missiles from Belarus. The U.S. State Department has declined to comment for BuzzFeed.<\/p>\n

BuzzFeed reminds that so far the training program for the rebels has cost 500 million US dollars and is a total fiasco, the latter also admitted by U.S. officials. The death of the American expert is part of this fiasco and is caused by the attempt of Purple Shovel to sell to the U.S. government thousands of Soviet-made \u201crocket-propelled grenades that were considered unreliable because they were manufactured three decades ago\u201d, the publication points out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weapons for Syrian rebels, paid by the U.S., come mainly from Bulgaria. A Bulgarian company has concealed the purchase of 700 Russian-designed Konkurs missiles from Belarus to circumvent the restrictions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20615,"featured_media":27998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","kia_subtitle":"The United States bought missiles from Lukashenko through a Bulgarian company. The American killed in the incident in Anevo is Francis Norvillo, a U.S. Navy veteran and an expert armorer.","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5542,5806,7855,5823],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigations-en","category-leading-en","category-making-a-killing-en","category-b-files-en"],"yoast_head":"\nBuzzFeed: Bulgaria Is Major Supplier of Weapons Sent from U.S. to Syria - Bivol!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/buzzfeed-bulgaria-is-major-supplier-of-weapons-sent-from-u-s-to-syria.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BuzzFeed: Bulgaria Is Major Supplier of Weapons Sent from U.S. to Syria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Weapons for Syrian rebels, paid by the U.S., come mainly from Bulgaria. 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As revealed by The New York Times, last year she traveled to Rome for an event at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103336,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/update-hal-billion-social-ministry.html","url_meta":{"origin":28016,"position":1},"title":"UPDATE: OVER 0.5 BLN BGN OF EU FUNDS EMBEZZLED THROUGH SOCIAL MINISTRY","author":"\u041d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430\u0439 \u041c\u0430\u0440\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","date":"30 March 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Financial abuse valued at a couple hundred million euro have been exposed at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. The embezzlement is primarily tied to funds from different European Union programs awarded under the law for public procurement. The procedures, however, were conducted in gross violation of the law.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36561,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/guided-anti-tank-missiles-purchased-by-cia-in-bulgaria-fell-into-islamic-state-hands.html","url_meta":{"origin":28016,"position":2},"title":"Guided Anti-Tank Missiles Purchased by CIA in Bulgaria Fell into Islamic State Hands","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"14 December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A powerful anti-tank weapon, secretly acquired by the CIA in Bulgaria, has fallen into the hands of Islamic state, BuzzFeed reports, citing information by Conflict Armament Research (CAR). The anti-tank missiles were bought at the end of 2015 under the US secret program to arm Syrian rebels, and only two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Leading"","block_context":{"text":"Leading","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/leading-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/fagot1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/fagot1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/fagot1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/fagot1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/fagot1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64524,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/fincen-files-state-controlled-bulgarian-bank-processes-transactions-linked-to-gangsters-and-arms-trafficking-for-islamic-state.html","url_meta":{"origin":28016,"position":3},"title":"FinCEN Files: State-controlled Bulgarian Bank Processes Transactions Linked to Gangsters and Arms Trafficking for Islamic State","author":"Atanas Tchobanov","date":"23 September 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"An offshore company with an account in Piraeus Bank paid USD 31 million to another offshore company with an account in the State-controlled Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB). The first offshore company is owned by a person involved in arms trafficking for the Islamic State and the other is owned by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fincen-dans.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fincen-dans.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fincen-dans.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fincen-dans.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fincen-dans.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/fincen-dans.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51633,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/who-is-the-bulgarian-accomplice-in-arms-manufacturers-poisoning.html","url_meta":{"origin":28016,"position":4},"title":"Who Is the Bulgarian Accomplice in Arms Manufacturer\u2019s Poisoning?","author":"Atanas Tchobanov","date":"25 January 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cIt is important to clarify the forgery contained in official correspondence by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, part of which is diplomatic note KO 194-45-1\/April 30, 2015 and other documents coinciding with the dates surrounding the crime.\u201d The arms manufacturing company Emco of businessman Emiliyan Gebrev made this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Comments","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/comments-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/transmobile-gebrev.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/transmobile-gebrev.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/transmobile-gebrev.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/transmobile-gebrev.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/transmobile-gebrev.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38197,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/us-treasury-department-bans-latvian-ablv-bank.html","url_meta":{"origin":28016,"position":5},"title":"US Treasury Department Bans Latvian ABLV Bank","author":"\u041d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430\u0439 \u041c\u0430\u0440\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","date":"14 February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The third largest Latvian bank, ABVL, has been heavily sanctioned by the regulators in Washington DC due to its involvement in money laundering and other illicit activities connected to Russia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine. On Tuesday, February 13, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a finding and notice pursuant to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Leading"","block_context":{"text":"Leading","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/leading-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/abvl.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/abvl.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/abvl.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/abvl.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/norwillo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}