Bulgaria

SOFIA, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Bulgaria protested to Russia on Thursday for putting Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev on a wanted list, with its prime minister criticising the move as an intimidatory tactic designed to muzzle free speech.

Grozev, chief investigator on Russia for the Bellingcat news outlet, is "wanted under an article of the Criminal Code," according to information published on Russia's interior ministry website this week.

Interim PM Galab Donev said Bulgaria would demand full information from Russia on why Grozev had been put on the list.

06 Dec 2022; MEMO: Bulgaria has been accused of shooting a refugee, after a new video emerged showing a young Syrian man being fired at on the border with Turkiye, Sky News reports.

Footage taken on 3 October near the Bulgarian-Turkish border fence shows 19-year-old Abdullah El Rustum fall to the ground after a bullet goes through his hand and into his chest.

He has claimed he was shot by Bulgarian border officials after they caught his group illegally entering the country and pushed them back to Turkiye.

SOFIA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian authorities have detained five suspects over connection with the deadly bomb attack in Istanbul, the country's prosecution authority said Saturday.

The five detainees were involved in logistics operations after the bomb attack, Siyka Mileva, spokesperson for Bulgaria's prosecutor's office, told local media.

The arrest was based on a tip-off from Türkiye's law enforcement authorities, Mileva said.

Local television channels reported that three of those arrested were of Moldovan origin and one of Arab origin.

SOFIA, Oct 12 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to Bulgaria Ms. Mariam Madiha Aftab Wednesday said that since trade volume between the two countries did not commensurate with actual potential, the Bulgarian businesses should take advantage of still-unexplored Pakistani market and establish useful business linkages with their counterparts.

She assured full support of the Embassy to the concerned business associations and companies in Bulgaria in this regard.

SOFIA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline, the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), started commercial operation on Saturday, according to ICGB AD, owner and operator of the IGB.

The IGB connects with the Greek national gas transmission system and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini of Greece, and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora of Bulgaria, according to a press release by the operator.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Azerbaijan’s president said Friday that his country is a reliable partner and will stick to an agreement to double gas exports to the European Union by 2027.

Speaking to reporters in Bulgaria’s capital, President Ilhan Aliyev called a new gas interconnector with Greece “a historic achievement and an opportunity for Azeri gas to reach Europe in larger quantities.”

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A 17-year-old pilot became the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a small aircraft after he landed on Wednesday in Bulgaria, where his journey kicked off five months ago.

Mack Rutherford, a Belgian-British dual national, landed on an airstrip west of Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, to complete his task and to claim two Guinness World Records. Along with becoming the youngest person to fly around the world by himself, Rutherford is the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe in a microlight plane.

02 August 2022; MEMO: Jordanian athlete, Maysir Al-Dahamsheh, yesterday refused to face an Israeli opponent in a Taekwondo championship in Bulgaria.

Al-Dahamsheh has withdrawn from a bronze medal tournament, in opposition to normalising with the Israeli occupation. Her withdrawal comes two months after the Jordanian national fencing player, Eyas Al-Zamer, withdrew from a World Juniors Championship held in the United Arab Emirates, where he had to face an Israeli opponent.

SOFIA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has signed a decree, setting the date of the new parliamentary election on Oct. 2, his press office said on Monday.

Radev dissolved, through the same decree, the current National Assembly with effect from Tuesday, the press office said.

It said the president also appointed Galab Donev as caretaker prime minister. The tasks and priorities of the caretaker government will be announced when it takes office on Tuesday.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s president launched talks on Friday with all political parties represented in parliament to see if there was still a chance to form a government and avoid another early election.

President Rumen Radev is trying to prevent Bulgaria from sliding into new political turmoil after the two main parties stumbled over mustering enough support to form a government coalition.

Radev said that the political crisis is intensifying and that a functioning parliament is needed to cope with it.