Russia’s ambassador to Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, was summoned to a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria on December 29, the first working day after the weekend in this country, the agency’s press service informed the BTA agency. The call is also related to the case of Bulgarian investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, who is wanted by Moscow.

Eleonora MitrofanovaPhoto: Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS / Profimedia Images

The meeting will discuss the Russian Federation’s ban on the study of the Bulgarian language in the occupied territories of Ukraine, the seizure of portraits of Bulgarian historical figures, and the federal wanted list of Bulgarian journalist Hristo Grozev. persons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday from Sofia, reports Agerpres.

Grozev was wanted on Monday, with the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs saying he was wanted for “violations of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.”

As reported by the EFE agency, all parliamentary parties, with the exception of the pro-Russian party “Vozrahdane” (“Revival”) and the Socialist Party, the successor of the Communist Party, demanded that the representative of Moscow be responsible for what they consider a threat to the rights and civil liberties of the journalist Bellingcat, a website , which specializes in fact-checking and information from open sources.

“The biggest nightmare of the Kremlin”

Hristo Grozev, 53, was involved in the investigation that identified two Russian officials as allegedly involved in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014, which killed 298 people.

Kristo Grozev (Photo: Paul Davey / Alamy / Profimedia Images)

Bulgaria’s national radio station BNR reminds that in July the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia announced Grozev’s involvement in “an attempt to hijack Russian fighter jets by paying money to Russian pilots on the orders of Ukrainians.”

Grozev has received numerous journalistic awards for his open-source investigation of crimes by Russian services and denies the allegations.

He has been working for Bellingcat since 2015. In a recent interview, the journalist called the exposure of the site “the Kremlin’s worst nightmare.”

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