Nikolay Lavchiev is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service.
Amid talk in Bulgaria of reintroducing compulsory military service, a new photo exhibition exposes the "labor battalions" used by the communist authorities, in part, to control the country's dissidents and ethnic minorities.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has criticized the temporary appointment of a former defense minister as Sofia's ambassador to Kyiv, underscoring a long-running division between the head of state and successive governments over ongoing support for Ukraine against invading Russian forces.
There has been a string of unexplained fires and explosions at locations connected to Bulgaria's arms industry. With mounting evidence of Russian involvement, critics accused Bulgarian authorities of dragging their feet.
A special RFE/RL investigation looks into allegations of Russian sabotage, cover-ups by Bulgarian authorities, and whether Bulgarian arms depots are still at risk as Russia's war in Ukraine enters a second year.
The Bulgarian Judo Federation (BFD) has defended its hiring of a French judo coach involved in a violent domestic incident with a former European champion judoka, saying Alain Schmitt is "a specialist to lead us to the Olympics in Paris" in 2024.
Bulgaria is enduring one of the world's deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks thanks in part to its failure to vaccinate. Doctors, nurses, and other caregivers are part of the problem.
