BRUSSELS (AP) — Poland urged its European Union partners on Monday to unite and impose sweeping sanctions on Russia's oil and natural gas sectors over the war in Ukraine, and not to cave in to pressure to pay for their gas in Russian rubles.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Mountainous and remote, the Greek-Bulgaria border once formed the southern corner of the Iron Curtain. Today, it’s where the European Union is redrawing the region’s energy map to ease its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Cutting off natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria cost Russian President Vladimir Putin very little — but it is adding stress on European countries wrestling with how to reduce the energy imports feeding the Kremlin's war chest and how to keep a united front on the war in Ukraine.
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, using its most essential export in what was seen as a bid to punish and divide the West over its support for Ukraine.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish and Bulgarian leaders accused Moscow of using natural gas to blackmail their countries after Russia's state-controlled energy company stopped supplying them with gas Wednesday.
Russia's Gazprom says it is halting natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, escalating tensions between the Kremlin and Europe over energy and Russia's invasion of Ukraine — and adding new urgency to plans to reduce and then end the continent's dependence on Russia as a supplier of oil and gas.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish and Bulgarian officials said Tuesday that Moscow is cutting off natural gas deliveries to their countries due to their refusal to pay in Russian rubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin after sanctions were levied against his nation over the invasion of Ukraine.
TORETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. pressed its allies Tuesday to move “heaven and earth” to keep Kyiv well-supplied with weapons as Russian forces rained fire on eastern and southern Ukraine amid growing new fears the war could spill over the country's borders.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia and Bulgaria reestablished a commercial air link Saturday after 13 years of interruption, as a symbolic trust-building move.
Relations between the two Balkan neighbors have long been strained as the Bulgarians do not recognize a separate Macedonian ethnicity and language, saying the language is actually a Bulgarian dialect.
GENEVA (AP) — As a player at Manchester United, Dimitar Berbatov’s curiosity about leadership was sparked by seeing the books in manager Alex Ferguson’s office.
A biography of Napoleon Bonaparte made an impression on one of Bulgaria’s greatest forwards, who is now leading a campaign to lead his national soccer federation — one that has a chaotic recent history.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Like brother, like sister.
A Belgian-British teenage pilot hopes to join his sister in the record books after starting his attempt to become the youngest person to fly around the world solo in a small plane on Wednesday.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A prosecutor’s decision to release Bulgaria's former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov from custody without pressing any corruption charges against him prompted sharp criticism Saturday from Bulgaria’s government.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria's ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was released from custody on Friday after prosecutors failed to come up with enough evidence to press charges against him.
Prosecution spokesperson Desislava Petrova explained that according to the supervising prosecutors in the investigation an extension of the detention cannot be justified due to lack of evidence and bringing charges now would be a violation of the law.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was detained Thursday in a nationwide police operation following investigations by the EU prosecutor’s office.
The Interior Ministry said Borissov has been taken in custody for 24 hours.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — The European Union's foreign policy chief on Monday reaffirmed the 27-country bloc's desire to integrate the Western Balkans, saying it's a "strategic priority.”
Josep Borrell said Brussels is committed to making the “EU perspective a reality” for the region.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — They file into neighboring countries by the hundreds of thousands — refugees from Ukraine clutching children in one arm, belongings in the other.
GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss criminal court was opening a trial Monday on charges that Credit Suisse failed to do enough to stop money laundering linked to drug trafficking by a Bulgarian criminal organization, which employed a wrestler who once hauled millions in currency by car to Switzerland.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The governments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia held a joint session Tuesday to improve relations, which have been locked in a historic row and further strained after Bulgaria blocked its Balkan neighbor's bid to join the European Union.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev took the oath of office Wednesday for his second term.
Radev, who is the country’s fifth democratically elected president, was sworn in at a ceremony in parliament together with Vice President Iliana Yotova.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — The new prime ministers of North Macedonia and Bulgaria agreed Tuesday to redouble efforts to improve relations between the Balkan neighbors, which soured after Bulgaria blocked North Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Protesters opposing COVID-19 restrictions in Bulgaria clashed Wednesday with police as they tried to storm the Parliament in the capital of Sofia.
A heavy police presence prevented protesters from entering the building and some were detained.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s top leaders are self-isolating after being in contact with the parliamentary speaker who tested positive for the coronavirus, the country’s chief health inspector said Tuesday.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Fifteen years after Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union, many residents say the former communist nations certainly are better for it.
But the two countries still have a way to go to deliver on ending endemic corruption and generating the kind of economic growth that would keep their citizens from leaving to seek financial opportunities elsewhere.
EDIRNE, Turkey (AP) — Bulgarian shoppers are crossing Turkey’s western border in packed cars and buses, taking advantage of a declining Turkish lira to fuel their own shopping sprees.
Their first stop is the currency exchange and then it's off to the markets and grocery stores in the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Leaders of Bulgaria and Greece on Monday discussed bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, with an emphasis on reducing their reliance on Russian gas through the speedy completion of a key gas interconnector linking the neighboring countries.
BRUSSELS (AP) — A ruling by the European Union's top court on Tuesday has boosted the rights of same-sex parents and their children in the 27-nation bloc.
The European Court of Justice said a child with two mothers certified in one EU nation must also be recognized by the other EU members as such.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s parliament on Monday formally approved the country’s new centrist-led government in a bid to restore stability, tackle the coronavirus crisis and spur economic development in the poorest EU member country.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Two Bulgarian military planes landed in North Macedonia Friday to return the remains of 45 people killed in a bus crash in Bulgaria last month to their families for burial.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Human error is believed to be the most likely cause of the fiery bus crash in Bulgaria that killed 44 people, including 12 children, early Tuesday, a Bulgarian official said Thursday.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria and North Macedonia began periods of national mourning on Wednesday, a day after a bus traveling through Bulgaria carrying tourists to neighboring North Macedonia crashed and caught fire, killing 45 people.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A bus carrying tourists back to North Macedonia crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria early Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, including a dozen children, authorities said.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev drew criticism from the United States on Monday for his remarks about the status of the Crimean Peninsula — a day after he secured his second term with a landslide victory in a runoff election.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Exit polls in Bulgaria suggest that incumbent Rumen Radev is the apparent winner in the country’s presidential runoff. Partial official results are expected later Sunday.
Surveys by several polling organizations give Radev, 58, about 65% of the vote.