site.btaMPs Draft Bill to Allow State to Recover Kamchia Resort from Moscow Government

MPs Nadezhda Yordanova and Ivaylo Mirchev of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) have drafted a bill to allow the State to recover the Kamchia resort, on the Black Sea, from the Moscow government which is the present owner, Mirchev said in a social media post. He wrote that Yordanova and himself expect support for the legislative initiative from the entire parliamentary group, as well as from other political forces.

"The legislative initiative is long overdue, especially in view of Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. International sanctions have been in place since 2014, and new ones are being adopted in response to Russia's unabated aggression. In order for Bulgaria to meet its obligations to implement these international restrictive measures, it is imperative that a specific law be adopted," Mirchev wrote. 

The bill also proposes maintaining a public list of sanctioned persons on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to guarantee the rights of third parties. 

Standing some 25 km south of the coastal city of Varna, the Kamchia resort of some 8 ha boasts a prime location at the mouth of the Kamchia River near one of the country's biggest beaches and a forest. It was originally intended as a children's camp and a facility for veterans. It includes accommodation, sports and conference facilities, a school and an astronomy observatory. The municipal government of Moscow owns the buildings and the land after acquiring it in 2008 despite a ban on such land deals for foreigners back at the time.

Earlier in January Dnevnik.bg reported that the Department of Property of the City of Moscow has sent instructions to the Board of Directors of the Russian-owned Kamchia Sanatorium and Health Complex to appoint the current HR Director of the Lukoil Neftohim Burgas AD oil refinery, Rossen Grigorov, as Executive Director of the facility. According to the daily, the move can be seen as an indirect confirmation of speculations that Russia will attempt to formally divest itself of ownership of the Kamchia resort in anticipation of the enforcement of a law on the implementation of international sanctions against Russia and to thwart attempts by the Bulgarian state to regain ownership of the resort. Grigorov denied knowledge of any plans by Lukoil Neftohim Burgas to acquire the camp.