Bulgaria

(Reuters) --- Leading Bulgarian politicians welcomed U.S. sanctions on three Bulgarians and 64 companies linked to them over alleged corruption on Thursday, while the European Union signalled its approval by saying it would not impose countermeasures.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday the sanctions were its single biggest action against graft to date, and also targeted plans to create a conduit for Russian political leaders to influence the Bulgarian government. 

(Reuters) --- Bulgaria's new caretaker prime minister said on Wednesday his government's priority would be upholding the rule of law in the European Union's poorest member state.

President Rumen Radev appointed Stefan Yanev, a former defence minister, to lead the government until a snap election in July after an inconclusive election last month resulted in a deadlocked parliament that failed to produce a government.

(Reuters) --- Bulgaria will hold a snap parliamentary election on July 11, after a third and final attempt to form a government following April 4 polls that led to a fragmented parliament failed, President Rumen Radev said on Wednesday.

Long-serving Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's centre-right GERB again emerged as the largest party after last month's election but it lost seats amid widespread public anger over entrenched corruption in the political elite.

(Reuters) --- Bulgaria on Thursday announced the expulsion of a Russian diplomat after prosecutors said they suspected Russian involvement in four explosions at arms depots in Bulgaria.

At a meeting with the Russian ambassador, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva requested full Russian cooperation with Bulgaria's investigation of the explosions and of attempts to poison Bulgarian arms trader Emilian Gebrev.

Moscow, which has dismissed the Bulgarian probe, said it would respond to the expulsion.

(Reuters) --- Bulgarian prosecutors said they are collecting evidence on the possible involvement of six Russians in four explosions between 2011 and 2020 at Bulgarian arms depots that were storing munitions for export to Ukraine and Georgia.

A spokeswoman said prosecutors could reasonably assume links between the blasts in Bulgaria, the attempted poisoning of Bulgarian arms trader Emilian Gebrev in 2015, and munitions depot explosions in the Czech Republic in 2014.

(Reuters) --- Bulgaria's new anti-establishment party, There Is Such A People (ITN), said on Monday it would not try to form a government despite a surge of support in this month's parliamentary election, bringing the Balkan country closer to snap polls in the summer.

Popular anger at widespread corruption boosted support for ITN and two smaller anti-graft parties at the April 4 election, but even together the three groupings would not have a majority in the fragmented parliament.

SOFIA, Bugaria (AP) — Bulgarians are heading to the polls on Sunday to cast ballots for a new parliament after months of anti-government protests and amid a surge in coronavirus infections.

The 12,000 polling stations opened at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. for the 6.7 million eligible voters who are electing 240 lawmakers.

The vote is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. The 61-year-old macho-style political maverick has led his center-right GERB party with an iron grip for more than a decade and now hopes to win his fourth term in office.

SOFIA, March 20. /TASS/: Bulgaria will have to declare Russian diplomats personae non gratae due to the spy case, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said, the government’s press service reported on Saturday.

"Once again we have to declare Russian diplomats personae non gratae," PM said when commenting on the detention of six staffers of the Defense Ministry and military intelligence by the Prosecutor’s Office on Friday on the suspicion of spying for Russia.

SOFIA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in Bulgaria has reached 302,480 after 2,541 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours, official data showed on Sunday.

The death toll in the country has risen to 11,966 after 34 patients died from COVID-19 in the last day, while the number of recoveries rose by 641 to 234,237, according to the country's COVID-19 information portal.

At the same time, the current number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive-care patients rose to 8,545 and 691 respectively.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Police seized high-quality forged banknotes produced at a printing office at a university in Bulgaria’s capital, authorities said Tuesday.

In a joint operation with the U.S. Secret Service, Bulgarian police detained two people and seized a printing machine and equipment for printing money, along with large amounts of counterfeit U.S. dollar and euro notes.

“The value of the seized currency is impressive. The material evidence speaks of serious criminal activity,” Sofia police chief Georgi Hadzhiev said Tuesday.