After the spying convictions of six Bulgarians, police have warned of further Russian operations against opponents
A second Kremlin spy operation has been discovered targeting Russian dissidents in Britain, it can be revealed.
Roman Dobrokhotov, a journalist in the sights of the six Bulgarians convicted of spying for Russia, said he had been informed of fresh attempts to surveil his family.
Continue reading...Jury convicts Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanchev over alleged plots around Europe
Three Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia have been found guilty of espionage charges in a trial that heard how they were involved in a string of plots around Europe directed by a fugitive based in Moscow.
After more than 32 hours of deliberations, a jury at the Old Bailey reached unanimous verdicts on Katrin Ivanova, 33, a lab technician, Vanya Gaberova, 30, a beautician, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, a painter and decorator, all of whom were living in London before their arrest.
Continue reading...Prosecutor at Old Bailey says Katrin Ivanova was only member of Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off plot
A lab technician has been accused of being the only member of a Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off a plot to steal the mobile numbers of Ukrainian soldiers training in Germany.
Katrin Ivanova, 33, was told by prosecutor Alison Morgan KC at the Old Bailey that she had been described by the plotters’ leader as the most technically adept member of the group and that she was necessary to the planned surveillance in Stuttgart.
Continue reading...Report by rights groups alleges border police refused to rescue boys and blocked activists’ efforts to save them
Bulgarian authorities have been accused of ignoring emergency calls and obstructing efforts to rescue three Egyptian teenage boys, who later died in sub-zero temperatures near the Bulgarian-Turkish border in late December.
A dossier of evidence compiled by two humanitarian organisations, seen by the Guardian, contains photos, testimonies and geolocations allegedly showing the authorities’ failure to save the boys, who called for help as they struggled cold and lost in the forests of Burgas, in south-eastern Bulgaria.
Continue reading...Several days of snow brought avalanche risk at Christmas, as wintry weather also caused four deaths in India
A snowstorm developed across the Alps on Saturday 21 December due to a low-pressure system situated over the Adriatic Sea. This depression allowed relatively warm and moist air to push into the Alps, condensing and falling as snow as it met the much colder alpine air mass. Snowfall continued for several days, with well over 1 metre of snow on some peaks and significant snowfall across many ski villages. Consequently, there was a significant avalanche risk over the Christmas period.
Ski resorts in Bulgaria also experienced significant snow starting on Christmas Day, which caused disruption in the mountainous west, where ski resorts had to temporarily shut down due to road closures. Towns such as Troyan, Samokov and Teteven were particularly badly affected with snowdrifts and power failures.
Continue reading...Six people dead, thousands evacuated and transport disrupted after at least 20 floods in major rivers
China has been experiencing heavy and widespread rainfall since the start of the rainy season, which runs from May to September. It has resulted in at least 20 floods in major rivers across the country, with 31 rivers surpassing their flood warning levels.
Dianjiang county, in Chongqing, received 269.2mm in one day last week, a single-day record there. It led to six deaths, more than 10,000 evacuations, and 40,000 people being affected, as well as severe disruptions to rail services and transport caused by flooding.
Continue reading...Bulgaria’s ‘eternal optimist’ in favour with European finance ministers after first five-year stint encompassing Covid and Ukraine
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, will run for a second five-year term after being nominated by a string of European countries to lead the global lender.
The Bulgarian economist and champion of policies to tackle the climate crisis will be given the support of her home country, which said she had accepted the nomination for another term starting in September.
Continue reading...Piedmont town near French border is now best budget ski resort in Europe for adults, figures show
The ski resorts of Bulgaria have long been seen as the best option for British skiers hoping to hit the slopes on a budget. Borovets and Bansko might not have the glitz of Verbier, the after-ski buzz of St Anton, or the picturesque villages of the Trois Vallées, but as the solid, wallet-friendly option, Bulgaria has been unbeatable for more than a decade.
All that has changed, however, with the Bulgarian resorts this year being eclipsed by an unlikely budget rival: Bardonecchia in Italy. The Piedmont town, 96km from Turin and a few minutes’ drive from the border with France, is now the best value ski resort in Europe for adults, according to research.
Continue reading...Thousands of towns and villages in Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria left without electricity as cold snap bites
Heavy snowfall and blizzards across eastern European countries this week have resulted in a number of deaths, and left thousands of towns and villages without electricity, after the first major cold snap of the season.
In Moldova, four people were reported dead over the weekend, with two bodies being recovered from cars that had been buried in snowdrifts. In Ukraine, severe snowstorms left 10 people dead across the Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions. Fifteen hundred towns and villages were left without power, with one snowstorm in Odesa leaving 2,500 people in need of rescue and about 850 vehicles requiring towing. Southern Ukraine was the worst affected, as cars and buses slid off frozen roads, with local authorities battling strong winds to rescue vehicles. Bulgaria was also badly affected, declaring a state of emergency as winter storms left more than 1,000 villages without electricity.
Continue reading...At least 12 people die across three countries as torrential rainstorms cause severe damage to buildings, roads and bridges
At least 12 people have died in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria as flash floods from torrential rainstorms turned rivers into torrents, swept away bridges and inundated streets, homes and public buildings.
Greece’s climate crisis and civil protection minister, Vassilis Kikilias, said after an emergency cabinet meeting: “This is the most extreme phenomenon in terms of the maximum amount of rain in a 24-hour period since records began in the country.”
Continue reading...Rallies in Sofia and other cities after leniency shown to man whose ex-girlfriend says she was cut hundreds of times by him
Thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets to protest against violence against women after a harrowing case of a teen cut hundreds of times shocked the Balkan nation.
Approximately 5,000 people demonstrated in Sofia, while protests also took place in other cities across the country, where rallies over violence against women are rare.
In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Raising of huge national flag in mountains of bloc’s poorest country widely mocked on social media
A soaring mast in the mountains of southern Bulgaria has made the EU’s poorest country the home of the bloc’s highest flagpole, filling some with pride and drawing scorn from others.
Nationalism and populism are on the rise in the Balkan nation, where many people remain strongly Russophile despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Bodies found in vehicle transporting 52 people, in deadliest incident linked to people-smuggling in country
Bulgarian prosecutors have charged six people over the deaths of 18 Afghans who suffocated in a truck abandoned near the capital, Sofia.
The bodies were found inside a vehicle on Friday, in the deadliest incident linked to people-smuggling in Bulgaria as the country struggles with a rise in illicit border crossings.
Continue reading...Interior ministry says abandoned truck appeared to be carrying about 40 people hidden under timber
At least 18 people have been found dead in an abandoned truck near Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
The interior ministry said: “According to initial information, the truck was transporting illegal migrants – a total of about 40 people, who were hiding … under transported timber.”
Continue reading...Two refused countries will try again after Austria raised concerns about unauthorised immigration
Croatia has been given the green light to join Europe’s open travel zone, but Bulgaria and Romania were kept out because of opposition led by Austria over concerns about unauthorised immigration.
Croatia was cleared to become the Schengen zone’s 27th member after talks between the bloc’s interior ministers in Brussels. From 2023, people will not have to stop for border checks as they pass between Croatia and the rest of the zone.
Continue reading...Russian state-owned firm delivering more gas through TurkStream pipeline than ‘contractually obliged’
Gazprom has ramped up flows to Hungary through the TurkStream pipeline that transports gas via Bulgaria and Serbia, a Hungarian foreign ministry official has said.
The Russian state-owned company started delivering more gas than it was contractually obliged to on Friday, Menczer Tamás, an official in Hungary’s ministry of foreign affairs and trade, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Continue reading...Emilian Gebrev says explosion on Sunday is latest of repeated attacks against him by GRU operatives
A Bulgarian arms dealer who survived an apparent novichok poisoning in 2015 said he was “100% sure” that Russian operatives were behind an explosion and subsequent fire at one of his depots in the country on Sunday.
“There is no way this could be an accident, there was nothing in the building that could have detonated without outside interference,” Emilian Gebrev said in a telephone interview.
Continue reading...Brussels commissioner says energy ministers accept bowing to Moscow’s demands would breach sanctions, as payment date looms
Europe is facing a crunch point in mid-May when EU member states will have to reject Moscow’s demands for fuel payments to be made in roubles – despite being without alternative gas supply, Brussels has warned.
Kadri Simson, the European commissioner for energy, said on Monday that the Kremlin’s demands had to be rebuffed despite the risks of an interruption to supply at a time that the shortfall cannot be made good.
Continue reading...EU hits out at move that Kremlin says is response to countries’ failure to pay in roubles
Europe appears to be on the brink of an energy crisis that could further drive up household bills after Russia halted gas supplies to two EU countries and threatened others, in a move condemned by European leaders as blackmail.
The immediate consequence of Gazprom’s decision to stop supply to Poland and Bulgaria while warning other nations opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine that they could soon be hit was a 20% rise in the wholesale gas price.
In an address in St Petersburg, Vladimir Putin said any countries attempting to interfere in Ukraine or creating “unacceptable strategic threats for us” would be met with a “lightning-fast” response from Moscow. He claimed he had “all the tools for this – ones that no one can brag about … We will use them if needed. And I want everyone to know this. We have already taken all the decisions on this.”
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, arrived in Ukraine committing to evacuate civilians and seek a diplomatic way to end the war, after his controversial meeting with Putin and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow on Tuesday.
Serhiy Volyna, the acting commander of the 36th marine brigade in the besieged port city of Mariupol, said hundreds of civilians including children were living in unsanitary conditions and running out of food and water.
The interior ministry of Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria issued a statement claiming it had come under attack from Ukraine, raising fears that the country would now be dragged into active conflict.
Continue reading...Analysis: Putin is determined to use resource as a weapon, as shown in move to cut off Poland and Bulgaria
The unavoidable truth looming over Europe’s response to the invasion of Ukraine is that Russian gas heats the continent’s homes and powers its industries.
While European leaders have vowed to wean themselves off Kremlin-controlled supplies, both of gas and oil, the reality is that this is very hard to do in short order. There will be at least one more cold winter to come before major energy-hungry economies that rely heavily on Russia, such as Germany and Italy, can tap other sources.
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