Right of reply from Yuri Gushin on the occasion of the article Hacker attacked Ukraine from Sofia has taken a Bulgarian “golden passport”

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you taking advantage of the “right of reply” to an official post about an article published in your media yesterday, February 16, 2022, namely: https://bird.bg/golden-passports-gushin/ and similar posts on various platforms, including Facebook.

First of all, I would like to point out that the above article for me is a blatantly insolent personal attack: you accuse me of carrying out serious criminal activities, such as my photo and personal data, including the place where I live, are displayed in the public domain. And all this is based on an article from 7 years ago, full of false accusations, about a company in which I had involvement as an owner and manager.

I hereby state some facts regarding the initial article in “Medusa” and subsequently in “Bivol”, and for them I can present solid and indisputable evidence:

1. To the dates of the meetings, which are claimed in your articles to have taken place in Sofia. Sophia, I can confirm that I was not physically in Bulgaria at all. I am not and could not participate in the alleged meeting, and I have also not met at all with the people mentioned in the article.
2. After the publication of the first article in 2015, an official meeting was organized with the Head of the Cybercrime Department at the General Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime (GDBOP), Mr. Yavor Kolev and representatives of Packages Technologies AD – a shareholder, a member of the company’s management, as well as legal representatives of the company. This meeting was held at the initiative of the company, which contacted the authorities quite voluntarily and invited them to visit the company’s offices and inspect both the company itself and the technologies it uses.

As you mention in the article, I really have substantial experience and history in the field of information and network security – I have worked in large international companies and contributed to strengthening the security of their network structure, and I have also created and developed various technologies – some of which I have publicly provided as open source projects – in order to help protect against malicious attacks – and I have also shared my experience in various conferences dedicated to information security.

My career has developed around the idea of protecting online businesses from hackers (including, some of the big internet companies nowadays — for example, Intel, PayPal, eBay, etc.) — rather than acting like a hacker.

I have never been convicted of a crime anywhere in the world.

Moreover, I have never been accused of committing any crimes anywhere in the world – officially or informally – until the moment of your article that portrays me as a criminal who has “attacked Ukraine” – something that is not only incorrect but even constitutes a blatant lie.

Portraying me as someone who has “bought a golden passport” is equally absurd. The facts are as follows:

• I have contributed to the Bulgarian economy since 2014 – by starting a business, hiring local professionals, paying all my taxes in full, and also by investing through the purchase of government securities.
• I have obtained Bulgarian citizenship in strict accordance with the applicable legal and regulatory framework – i.e. through an official investment in government securities – in accordance with the law, officially living in Bulgaria with my family, and also conducting the whole procedure in a flawless and transparent manner. In this regard, I would like to remind you that in the course of the procedure for approval of my application for Bulgarian citizenship, I have been subjected to continuous thorough verification by all competent authorities in the Republic of Bulgaria, including but not limited to the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, even the slightest suspicion of any wrongdoing in my professional and/or private life – especially if they relate to criminal activities such as those of which your article accuses me, not only will my application for citizenship be rejected, but I would even be arrested and brought to justice.

One of the few correct factual statements in your article is that the business I have run is successful, and also that I have bought an expensive house. I don’t think that in itself is a reason to publicly slander a person the way you did. The house I have purchased — like everything else I own — is duly and openly registered and recorded in my personal name, as I have nothing to hide or conceal.

I am a law-abiding citizen living in Bulgaria, paying taxes in Bulgaria and representing a real part of Bulgarian society and economy, with a family whose reputation you damage.

I wonder what are the motives behind such a publication, besides the motives of the authors to invent an “attractive story” that mixes all the popular topics nowadays: “golden passports”, “Russia”, “Ukraine”, “Cybercrime”, etc. Eloquent enough in itself is the fact that such an article appeared in the public domain without even its author making the effort to contact me in advance, to obtain a comment on the material to be published.

Editorial: Since we do not have Yuri Gushin’s contacts, we turned to the company mentioned in the publication, but did not receive feedback.

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За да научавате преди всички за нови разследвания, инсталирайте си нашето мобилно приложение:

Щом сте стигнали дотук, вероятно вече си задавате въпроса как се финансира този журналистически проект.

От създаването си BIRD се финансираше от подаяния в нашето журналистическо чекмедже. Но на чекмеджето му мина времето. Даже прокуратурата затвори онова Чекмедже, знаете кое… Нашето финансиране влиза в крак с епохата. Фондонабиращата ни кампания вече се казва

#МятайСBIRD

Дарявай за BIRD и мятай павета в блатото с корумпирани политици и други тарикати.

Защо да мятам ли?

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Ние се издържаме само от малки дарения от граждани. Изчислили сме, че за да работим като устойчива медия, ни трябват около 240,000 лв. годишно или 20,000 лв. на месец. Тук виждате актуалния брой на нашите регулярни дарители, средната месечна сума на даренията и общата сума, която те са дарили за периода от старта на сайта през септември 2020 г. до днешна дата.

Регулярните месечни дарения в размер 10, 20, 50 лв. или друга сума по избор ни дават финансова сигурност и позволяват да планираме дейността си за месеци напред.

Освен да “мятате”, можете и да “шамаросвате”. В момента срещу журналистите от BIRD се водят 10 дела SLAPP известни като “дела-шамари”. Помогнете ни за съдебните разходи, които никак не са малки. Всяко Ваше дарение за конкретно “дело-шамар” е “шамар” срещу шамаросващите, които разполагат с огромни пари срещу нашите скромни финансови възможности.

Дълбоко благодарни сме за всяка подкрепа!

This post is also available in: Български (Bulgarian)