site.btaUPDATED Vazrazhdane Leader Comments of US Court Sentence on Bulgarian Detained in Greece in 2022

Vazrazhdane Floor Leader Kostadin Kostadinov commented on the Wednesday ruling of a federal court in Austin, US, sentencing Bulgarian national Milan Dimitrov to 38 months time served for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Speaking to journalists in the corridors of Parliament on Thursday, he said that "a US court ruled to release" Dimitrov, who was detained in late 2022 in Greece following charges by US prosecutors that he had traded with the Russian Federation.

Dimitrov and his father, Dimitar, were accused of obtaining radiation-resistant chips from a company in Texas and sending them to Russia via Bulgaria. Both were charged with violating export control regulations and money laundering rules. Milan was also accused of providing false information to a US government official. Milan Dimitrov denied the allegations. The chips, specially designed to withstand radiation and extreme temperatures, are critical components in the production of missiles and military satellites, Reuters reported at the time of his arrest.

“Although during the investigation it was proven that the goods which, according to the US indictment, he had sent to Russia had not gone anywhere and to this day remain in his company’s office in Sofia, he was extradited from Greece to the United States and spent 37 months behind bars. We began defending him because this was an absurd situation,” Kostadinov argued.

The United States Attorney's Office published a press release Wednesday, reporting that Dimitrov pleaded guilty on Nov. 20, 2025, admitting that he had knowledge that the parts were shipped from the U.S. to Bulgaria and then to Russia, and that he facilitated and benefitted from the illegal activity.He was sentenced to time served after the Bulgarian spent 38 months in custody.

“For three and a half years we received no assistance from Bulgarian institutions, governments, or political parties. The State refused to provide funds for Milan Dimitrov’s lawyer in the US, arguing that if it got involved it would politicize the case and that this would be worse for him. We found a lawyer, and the funds were raised mainly by the Vazrazhdane parliamentary group over several years,” Kostadinov said.

He also recalled the case of the Bulgarian nurses in Libya. “At the time, the foreign minister was Nadezhda Neynsky, who did not lift a finger to defend the Bulgarians,” Kostadinov said. “When you defend a Bulgarian citizen abroad who has fallen into trouble, you are not politicizing - you are fighting for your compatriot, because any one of us could find ourselves in that position,” he added.

Neynsky is the new caretaker Foreign Minister.