The Prosecutor's Office of Bulgaria has started an investigation into how the country's government applies EU sanctions against Russia.
This was reported by Euractiv.
Thus, the reason for the corresponding investigation was the statement of the member of the Bulgarian Parliament, Delyan Dobrev, that "millions of Russian oligarchs are being laundered through a bank in Bulgaria", while he did not name which bank he meant. During the day, the prosecutor's office announced that it had instructed the State Agency for National Security to investigate the case.
"The Prosecutor's Office requests from the Council of Ministers and all ministries and departments participating in the Coordination Group (under Russian sanctions) information on specific measures taken, actions and acts issued in connection with the imposed sanctions," the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
The fact that the National Revenue Agency, which is responsible for the introduction of sanctions, has not issued a single act on the introduction of restrictions in the past 8 years, is not in favor of the Bulgarian government, the newspaper writes.
In turn, as the publication writes, the investigative website Bird.bg has already revealed the names of some Russians who own real estate in Bulgaria, in particular on the Black Sea through their relatives and are on the EU sanctions list. Among them are Serhii Chemezov, Maksym Topilin, Volodymyr Pligin and Oleksiy Chepa.
"Bulgaria does not seem to apply EU sanctions against individuals and companies from the Russian Federation. It is obvious that the Bulgarian authorities do not dare, do not want and do not have the procedures and opportunities to apply sanctions," said a representative of the analytical center in a Euractiv comment in February. Center for the Study of Democracy" (CSD) Ruslan Stefanov.
It should be noted that the Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, during his visit to Bulgaria in February, said that the European Commission wants EU countries to report on their actions regarding the implementation of sanctions against Russia.
"The goal is to get the best picture of these assets, and if they are confiscated, they can be used to rebuild Ukraine," he said.
As reported, the British Parliament suggested consolidating efforts in the context of sanctions against Russia, which did not have as great an impact on the Russian economy as Western countries expected. There it was proposed to create a so-called "economic Ramstein" for "those who fight for the freedom of Ukraine."
