Elitsa Simeonova is a correspondent in RFE/RL's Central Newsroom in Prague. She previously was a correspondent in Sofia for RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service.
A plan to house 20 refugee children without parents in Sofia has been abandoned after far-right figures turned it into a campaign issue ahead of parliamentary elections this weekend.
Alexandra Mileva, a Bulgarian filmmaker, was arrested after setting a Russian flag on fire in downtown Sofia to protest Russian military aggression in Ukraine. Now free and acquitted of hooliganism charges, Mileva spoke to RFE/RL about how a recent trip to Ukraine provoked her dramatic protest.
If you asked a Bulgarian politician who was to blame for the country's ongoing political crisis, they would most likely all give you the same name: Delyan Peevski, a shadowy oligarch who, his critics allege, has captured the state.
Thousands of YouTube users in Russia reported on August 8 that the platform is no longer accessible for them – and it’s not the first time Russia is restricting YouTube. Why is this happening, and what alternatives would Russians have in the future?
Protesters have turned out in force in Sofia after the Bulgarian parliament passed an amendment to ban LGBT "propaganda" in schools. Protesters say that the new legal ban will harm not only young LGBT people but also heterosexuals.
In recent months, there’s been a wave of Russian sabotage incidents in Europe. What's going on, and what could Brussels do about it?
North Macedonia's new president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, refused to say the word "North" in the country’s name when she was sworn in. She says she has the right to do so, but this has sparked an angry reaction from Greece.
An ex-minister is on trial for his wife's murder in Kazakhstan. The case has put domestic violence in the spotlight in the country, where UN figures suggest at least 400 women die every year from spousal violence. (WARNING: This video contains scenes of domestic violence.)
Friends in high places come with lucrative benefits in Uzbekistan. For a phantom company with connections to the president’s son-in-law, these included tens of millions of dollars in opaque state contracts, a new RFE/RL investigation has found.
Three years ago, an unknown Uzbek company registered in an apartment emerged from nowhere to land more than $100 million in state contracts before vanishing again. A new RFE/RL investigation reveals the firm’s ties to the Uzbek president’s son-in-law.
Russia is increasing its cooperation with China in 5G and satellite technology and this could facilitate Moscow's military aggression against Ukraine, a report by the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) security think tank warns.
Two French nationals have told RFE/RL they're both very much alive and living in France, despite Russian state media claims they were in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv at the time of a Russian missile strike on January 16.
After Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe has successfully reduced its dependence on Russian gas. That, experts say, is good for the EU's long-term energy security. Yet cutting Russia out of the energy equation completely will be much harder to achieve across a divided EU.
For years, he was mostly known as an oligarch and media mogul, who rarely appeared in public and is sanctioned by the U.S. for his "extensive role in corruption in Bulgaria." But now, Delyan Peevski is coming out of the shadows and is increasingly a more influential presence.
The death of a 25-year-old man in a psychiatric hospital highlights what a report by Bulgaria's ombudswoman called the "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" treatment of patients. The man died in a fire while he was locked in an isolation room, tied down for hours, and left without medical supervision.
Ahead of local elections last weekend, Bulgarian officials cancelled machine voting 36 hours before polls opened. The move sparked protests and -- ahead of a November 5 runoff -- has thrown the election administration into chaos and strained the ties of the country's ruling coalition.
The U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has said it is “too early” to rule out the possibility that Kyiv's counteroffensive against Russian forces will achieve "significant gains."
Attacks using cluster munitions by both Russia and Ukraine since the start of the Kremlin's full-scale invasion last year have helped lead to a "dramatic" increase in the use of such weapons, highlighting the need for more countries to join a global ban.
Thousands of people staged protest rallies in the capital, Sofia, and other Bulgarian cities on July 31 following a case of shocking violence against an 18-year-old woman.
The Bulgarian capital has spent millions on installing Hikvision surveillance cameras in its public transit network, just as other EU countries are shying away from the technology.
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