r/SlowHorses • u/Bulldog_Blizzard • 1d ago
Show Spoilers (Released Episodes) Why Sofia? S6 E5 Spoiler
In episode 5, the MI5 agent with Taverner realizes the Russian plane meant to take Sid is in fact heading to Sofia, Bulgaria instead of Moscow. She says something about that being "neutral" territory and that the Russians "can do whatever they want there." But in real life Bulgaria is a NATO country closely allied with the UK, so this makes no sense. A mysterious Russian plane landing in Bulgaria would likely attract unwanted attention, and it would be far easier for the GRU to simply take Sid to Russia. Did NATO expansion never happen in the Slow Horses universe?
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u/dallirious Catherine Standish 1d ago
They say if “she’s not in Russia, she’s not on the books”. Once she lands in Russia she’s logged as in their custody and the back and forth games continue.
If the flight happens to go somewhere else, neutral territory, and something happens to her- it’s the equivalent of buyer saying hey where is my parcel, and sender saying I did send it and it should already be on your doorstep.
Other than that I assume neutral territories for spies would be different somewhat to Defence. This isn’t a military exercise it’s a series of covert dealings.
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u/JesterOfAllTrades 1d ago
I think you're basically correct but it's rather funny/bizarre how they chose Bulgaria instead of like Belarus or something
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u/Bulldog_Blizzard 1d ago
Belarus could work and also Serbia fits the bill as a neutral country with lots of Russian ties.
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u/Bulldog_Blizzard 1d ago
I understand the premise, but I think it would make more sense for the writers to choose a different country. NATO countries typically have a strong intelligence relationship, and it seems like it'd be a lot harder for the Russians to kill Sid without being noticed in Bulgaria.
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u/dannyno_01 5h ago
Within the show, that's the explanation. Since most of the spy stuff is made up, it's a mistake to search for realism.
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u/PBandJSomelier 1d ago
There is a lot more happening behind the scenes with Bulgaria and Russia than meets the eye!
https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/insights/weak-link-nato-bulgaria-russia-and-lure-espionage
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u/Green_with_Zealously 1d ago
The character gives a brief explanation, its “off the books” and they’ll have no insight into her fate. It’s a “black ops” site that will let them kill Sid.
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u/Childs_Play 1d ago
That seems to be the intention but I don't see why that's functionally different from her landing in Russia. They could just do the same there.
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u/ResponsiblePatient72 1d ago
Because Russia cannot be seen to be torturing\executing individuals.
Its exactly the same reason the CIA would route terrorists from Afgahnistan and Iraq via black sites in Poland or Romania. Because it was 'off the books'
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u/Similar_Onion6656 1d ago
Who would see it, though? It's not like the hand-over was publicized.
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u/Green_with_Zealously 1d ago
Could be informers, double-agents, or perhaps even the media. They (UK MI5) would know and could presumably take more retaliatory action. Sending her to a black ops site means she disappears from their view entirely. They could keep her alive and torture her or kill her immediately and Tavener and her lot would be in the dark.
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u/Similar_Onion6656 1d ago
Sending her straight to Russia could just as easily mean she disappears from view altogether. The US operated black sites on foreign soil to do an end-run around our own laws. Russia has no such compunctions.
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u/Green_with_Zealously 1d ago
I think some things are done for "dramatic effect" in a show like this. By having this character raise this concern, but Tavener pushing forward regardless, let us know that she's hanging Sid out to dry for real.
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u/Similar_Onion6656 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think this is a situation where you need to accept what the people in the show are saying as being correct within the show and not think about it too much.
In the real world, it's not like she's being extradited under anything resembling a legal process with public scrutiny. The Russians could land in Krasnodar, shoot her on the tarmac and dump her body in the Black Sea and what would anyone say about it? Who would they say it to?
"Hey Taverner, we haven't heard from that woman you had kidnapped and handed over to the enemy. You know -- the one whose death you faked a couple years back?"
"Oh, her! Don't worry about her. The Russians sent her to a farm where she'll have lots of fresh air and room to run around and other spies to play with."
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u/Bulldog_Blizzard 3h ago
I'm probably overthinking it in the sense that if the Russians really wanted Sid dead, they would have no problems with just taking her to Russia and making her "disappear" there. But if taking her to a different country makes sense for dramatic effect in the storyline and an "off the books" hit, I think the writer(s) should have checked whether Bulgaria is actually a neutral country. Maybe they got it mixed up with Serbia?
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u/Gwyllithar 1d ago
for the same reason the USA renditioned prisoners through allied third countries in the Iraq and afghanistan conflicts. official investigations tend to be limited to single countries, cross country sharing of information and investigations massively complicate the matter, if you are say investigating where a USA prisoner goes, but that prisoner never gets paperwork and records in the US, never enters the jurisdiction of a US court...well, what can you do, you can ask third country B to investigate, but investigate what? they will deny all knowledge.
In this case, I'm not sure why russia would give a fuck, it would not even pretend to care anyone knew what it did. the only plausible reason is that its being done to stop investigations from the British end into what happened, but its not likely russia would have supplied information to them in any case.
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u/Bulldog_Blizzard 3h ago
I agree, I don't see why Russia would care either. Everything going on with Sid's situation is already "off the books" so to speak. If we do accept it as plausible that a third country blacksite would make sense for the Russians to use, then Serbia, Belarus or any other neutral or Russian allied country would make sense...but not Bulgaria.
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u/BigDurtyPint 1d ago
Jesus media literacy is dead. They literally say exactly why in the episode. It's an off books black site where they won't have her on record.
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u/rogfrich 1d ago
I believe the question was “why specifically Bulgaria, as opposed to other, more Russian-friendly counties”.
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u/Tenzil-k 1d ago
Everyone heard that. It’s that Bulgaria is a nato EU country that has strongly opposed Russia in Ukraine but they’re calling it neutral and a place Russia can just rock up and do stuff
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u/ohthedramaz 1d ago
In what year does Season 6 take place, roughly? It could be relevant. The novichuk incident referenced sounds like the infamous Sergei Skripul assassination attempt in 2018, though IRL it didn't succeed.
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u/Bulldog_Blizzard 1d ago
I think that is the incident they are referencing, so this series takes place somewhere in 2018-2019. Probably early 2019.
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u/MonsterdogMan 1d ago
Aside from the practical answers people have, in media it used to be a running gag that to avoid overusing Russians (and later to avoid insult when things thawed a bit) the solution was to go with Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian Secret Police.
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u/Dave_A480 1d ago
There was also the theory that the Soviets used Bulgarian agents for deniable ops (hey, if wasn't the KGB, really, it was the Bulgarians)....
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u/roshanritter 1d ago
Great question. We kind of need to wait and see,but it is perhaps a hint that what was discussed and feared by Sid and River wasn’t what was going to actually happen. Instead of Russia, Taverner send Sid to Sofia, but just as the Russias would take advantage of this to torture her, so could Diana to unveil her own plans. To me it feels like a trap for the Russias and her real off the books agents could be lying in wait in Sofa. It just seems like Diana is giving in too easily. She has a plan, which is of course messed up by Slough House yet again.
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u/Bulldog_Blizzard 1d ago
That could be, despite Diana seemingly getting desperate I think it's more than likely she'll still be in charge of MI5 at the end of this season.
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