BNT journalist Ivo Nikodimov commenting on Alexey Petrov’s murder: If investigators know the motives, they should take measures to prevent further murders

The motives for the murder of Alexey Petrov should be investigated because they are of key importance and I hope that the services will have enough reliable and detailed operational information. If they know the motives, this would allow them to make a very careful and good analysis and take the necessary measures to prevent further possible murders - this is what the journalist from BNT Ivo Nikodimov told the morning programme on August 17.

Businessman Alexey Petrov shot dead in Sofia

"They should investigate the possibility of that there might be further murders and other targets after the assassination of Alexey Petrov. Along with the instigators who ordered the killing and executors of this order, it is extremely important to be clear about the motives. They may be related to people outside the country, i.e. it was ordered from abroad, and they may be related to processes inside the country, and for this very reason it is important that these motives, at least at operational level, are clear to investigators," Nikodimov explained.

According to him, there is probably an element of underestimation of security measures. For the first time, we saw that Alexey Petrov does not travel in an armoured vehicle - something that is absolutely unusual. In addition, according to the information that is being gathered, his security guards were about 30-40 metres away from him and the woman accompanying him, which is quite a serious distance at which it would be difficult for the guards to react in such a situation.

The place of the assassination is also interestingly chosen, probably somebody has been exploring quite seriously and the possibilities for the perpetrator of the murder to retreat are extremely high to get quickly to Cherni vrah, and from there to Dupnitsa or Pernik, from where one can even leave the country, Ivo Nikodimov added.

According to him, there is a high probability that there will be attempts to "clear" others.

"We should look for links between the murder of Kuro and the murder of Alexey Petrov. After the murder of Kuro, a serious redistribution of the business he controlled began. Now, a serious redistribution will begin of the layers and the spheres that Alexey Petrov controlled. He was a man with a great deal of information that allowed certain processes to be guided - public and perhaps political. So there will be a serious reshuffling of layers and a struggle over who should take his place," the journalist explained.

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According to him, the murder was prepared and carried out in a way that would make the investigation as difficult as possible both in terms of finding the perpetrator and the person who ordered it.

"Most likely, the person who ordered the murder had no direct contact with the perpetrator - the order reached the perpetrator through several intermediaries," Nikodimov suggested.

The hypotheses around the murder of Alexey Petrov - comments of experts and journalists

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On August 16, Alexey Petrov, a businessman, an expert in security, a former State Agency for National Security (SANS) advisor, a former defendant in "Octopus" investigation into organised crime and former presidential candidate was shot dead while walking on a path in Dragalevtsi mountainside area in Vitosha mountains near Sofia. A woman who was accompanying him was admitted to “Pirogov” emergency hospital with serious gunshot injuries and underwent surgery.

Three bodyguards were accompanying Petrov at the time of the murder.