Bulgaria

SOFIA, December 21. /TASS/: The military, air and naval attache to the Russian embassy in Bulgaria has left the country after he was declared persona non grata on Friday due to accusations of espionage, the Russian diplomatic mission in Sofia told TASS.

"The Russian diplomat has left Bulgarian territory through the border with Turkey on Monday at around midday," TASS was told.

BURGAS, Bulgaria (AP) — In Bulgaria, Roma communities were sprayed with disinfectant from crop dusters this spring as coronavirus cases surged in the country. In Slovakia, their villages were the only ones where the army conducted testing. And across Central and Eastern Europe, reports of police using excessive force against Roma spiked as officers were deployed to enforce lockdowns in their towns.

SOFIA (Reuters) - Some two thousand supporters of a fringe ultra-nationalist and pro-Russian party marched through central Sofia on Thursday accusing the government of imposing confusing restrictions aimed at combating the coronavirus.

Protesters waved party and national flags and chanted “resignation” and “mafia”, to express their frustration that the centre-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov extended restrictions until June 14.

SOFIA, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Bulgarian parliament voted unanimously to declare a state of emergency until April 13 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Bulgaria had 23 confirmed cases, including one fatality, according to the Health Ministry.

The state of emergency will allow for travel bans to and from countries with large coronavirus outbreaks, the closing of schools and universities, and permit police to intervene when imposed isolation of infected people is not observed.

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria is ready to deploy up to 1,000 troops and military equipment to the border with neighboring Turkey to prevent illegal migrant inflows, its defense minister said on Friday.

Krasimir Karakachanov said border police had prevented two groups of about 30 people from entering Bulgaria from Turkey early on Friday after Ankara said it would no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe.

SOFIA, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bulgaria’s food safety agency authorities reported two new outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu in the southern part of the Balkan country.

One of the new outbreaks was found at a farm with more than 55,000 egg-laying hens in Trilistnik, near the city of Plovdiv. The other outbreak was reported at a farm with more than 11,000 ducks in Padarsko, also near Plovdiv.

All the hens and ducks at the two farms would be culled, the food agency said.

SOFIA, January 6. /TASS/: North Macedonia and Greece have begun receiving Russian gas through Strnadzha-2 new checkpoint in Bulgaria, Bulgartransgaz EAD Executive Director Vladimir Malinov said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday.

"Gas from Russia is successfully supplied through a new entry point (gas compressor station - TASS) of Strnadzha-2 via Turkey. The advantages of this project are security and economic viability. Both North Macedonia and Greece are receiving gas through Strandzha-2," Malinov said.

SOFIA, Jan 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bulgarian veterinary authorities said they would cull 24,000 pigs after detecting an outbreak of African swine fever at a pig farm in the northeast of the country.

The outbreak is the first at an industrial farm since August when the virus hit six breeding farms in the Balkan country, forcing the vet authorities to cull over 130,000 pigs.

The outbreak was detected at a farm in the village of Nikola Kozlevo in the region of Shumen, the food safety agency said. The highly contagious disease affects pigs but not humans.

SOFIA, December 5. /TASS/: Russia’s Foreign Ministry has declared a Bulgarian embassy employee persona non grata in response to the October expulsion of a Russian diplomat, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

SOFIA, November 1. /TASS/: A Russian diplomat was expelled from Bulgaria earlier this week over allegedly trying to recruit a high-ranking staff member, who had access to classified data, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said on Friday.