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Russian interests and propaganda remain a big issue for Bulgaria.
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
The news comes following the discovery of a link between a cluster of companies in Bulgaria and a network of Russian influence identified in Romania during the annulled presidential elections. [Mihai Barbu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]
Bulgarian lawmakers want a parliamentary commission to investigate Russian influence, Ivaylo Mirchev, a member of We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria, told Euractiv.
The news comes following the discovery of a link between a cluster of companies in Bulgaria and a network of Russian influence identified in Romania during the annulled presidential elections.
“The Russian digital agency that ran the nationalist (Calin) Georgescu’s campaign in Romania is connected to over 50 Bulgarian companies, most of them in the same industry, registered in the city of Plovdiv and owned by the same person”, Mirchev told Euractiv.
He added that for years, Russian propaganda has infiltrated Bulgaria, primarily through funding linked to Kremlin-affiliated energy companies.
“With dysfunctional services and institutions, we will discuss the possibility of creating an investigative parliamentary committee to gather evidence of Russian influence in Bulgaria at all levels,” the Bulgarian MP added.
The Bulgarian investigative group BG Elves, which sought to expose vote-buying networks in the October elections in Bulgaria, has reported the discovery of a network of Bulgarian companies owned by a Georgian national and linked to the spread of pro-Russian influence in Romania.
The network originates from a company registered in Bulgaria’s second-largest city, Plovdiv.
BG Elves’ investigation in Bulgaria builds on a journalistic inquiry published by Snoop in Romania on 3 December, which identified a key company connecting the networks. The company in question is registered at an address in Plovdiv.
“From this Romanian report, we traced 51 companies registered under the name of a Georgian citizen. Many were set up on the same day, mostly in 2024. We have official emails, Facebook profiles, phone numbers, and addresses of many employees at these firms. But there are truly hundreds of them. And they are all Russian,” BG Elves shared without disclosing the names of the companies.
The investigative organisation has called on Bulgarian investigative journalists to focus on exposing the mechanisms by which Russian influence is exerted on social media. According to the data collected, the Plovdiv-based business cluster generates hundreds of millions of impressions on social media daily, with the most significant impact in Romania, Hungary, Greece, Bosnia, and Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian-registered companies are involved in large-scale advertising campaigns on social media.
“These Bulgarian companies, run by Russians, have significantly influenced the electoral outcomes in Romania and Bulgaria, as well as across Europe,” the organisation claims.
“In this case, we see that the impressions from the content they promote through their channels reach, on average, every Bulgarian citizen up to 10 times per month. But since the content is targeted, we’re literally talking about the bombardment of specific population groups,” BG Elves told Euractiv.
Euractiv emailed a request for comment to the Georgian owner, George A., who the group unofficially names. So far, he has not replied.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
Updated: 10-12-2024
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