Section: Bulgaria
Record high quantity of contraband gold seized at Bulgaria-Turkey border.
Customs officers at Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint seized a record high amount of contraband golden jewelry estimated at EUR 366,000. The gold was seized at the Bulgaria-Turkey border during an inspection of a mini-bus with Ukrainian registration. The driver of the min-bus and three other passengers were carrying a jewelry that weighted...
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Wraps up U.S. Visit with Meetings at State Dept., Pentagon
Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov has held meetings at the State Department and the Department of Defense in the concluding part of his working visit to the United States. Daniel Mitov and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed cooperation in defense, the modernization of the Bulgarian armed forces and the outcome of the...
Diplomats Say Russia Targets Bulgaria, 6 Other EU States in Drive to Kill Sanctions – Reuters
Bulgaria and six other EU Member States of southern and eastern Europe is one of the main targets of Russia’s efforts to end the economic sanctions of the bloc imposed over the Ukraine crisis, Reuters has reported, citing diplomats. According to several unnamed Moscow-based EU diplomats, “Russia’s tactic of methodically lobbying...
Putin Incorporates Crimea into Southern Federal District
Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the unification of the Crimean Peninsula with the Southern Federal District, previously known as the North Caucasian Federal District, TASS reports. The motives are not immediately clear. Russia incorporated Crimea into its territory in March 2014, following what it calls a local referendum where an...
EU Could Block Turkish Stream Construction – Ukrainian Official
The head of Ukraine’s Naftogaz has suggested the European Union could prevent Russia and Turkey from building the so-called Turkish Stream pipeline by blocking the use of deepwater building technology. Andrey Kobolev, who heads the state-owned gas company, has told a Ukrainian TV station that EU could use sanctions to ban the transfer of...
Austria, Germany and Romania top travelling destinations for Bulgarians in June
565,000 Bulgarians travelled abroad in June 2016, or 20.7 percent up on June 2015, the National Statistical Institute has announced. The increase is biggest in the number of Bulgarian nationals travelling to Austria – 99.2 percent, Germany – 50.8 percent and Romania – 23.3 percent. At the same time visits to Russia have dropped by 6.3 percent, to...
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Discussing Energy Projects, Sanctions Policy on Washington Visit
The implementation of priority energy projects in Bulgaria and the region of southeastern Europe have been in the focus of a meeting of Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov with Amos Hochstein, U.S. Special Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, in Washington. The two sides emphasised the importance of accelerating the...
Minister Mitov meets with Amos Hochstein and Daniel Fried on second day of his visit to USA
On the second day of his official visit to the USA Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Mitov met with the Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs at the US Department of State Amos Hochstein and with the State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions Policy Daniel Fried, the press center of the Bulgarian...
Bulgaria Says Gas Link with Romania to Be Completed in Autumn 2016
Bulgaria will have its gas interconnection with neigbouring Romania completed in the autumn, Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova has said. Petkova and her Romanian counterpart Victor Vlad Grigorescu on Saturday inspected the site of the construction of the underwater section of the gas link at Marten, in Ruse Region on the Bulgarian bank of the...
Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria to Test Bi-Directional Gas Flows by Year’s End
Flows of natural gas flows between Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria will be tested by the end of 2016 under interconnection agreements signed by the grid operators of the three countries, petrochemicals market information provider ICIS has reported, citing an inside source. “The deals will allow bi-directional virtual flows spanning the region from...
