site.btaBulgarian Foreign Ministry Is Ready to Back Freezing of Assets of Russia's Rossotrudnichestvo in Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry is ready to back freezing the assets of Russia's Rossotrudnichestvo in Bulgaria, including the Russian Culture and Information Centre in central Sofia. That transpired in plenary on Friday as Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel, during Q&A in Parliament, was asked by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria about the option of freezing the assets of the Russian Culture and Information Centre in Sofia and the measures against Russian propaganda.

Gabriel said that her Ministry lacks the powers to enforce sanctions and that legislation on that needs to be promptly adopted. "The Foreign Ministry has consistently called for the adoption of legislation to regulate in its entirety the public relations and regulate the powers and responsibilities of the institutions as regards the implementation of sanctions on EU, UN and national level, including freezing of financial assets," Gabriel said.

She pointed out that a Finance Ministry-led coordinating group has been established for the implementation of the EU sanctions. The responsibility for the freezing of assets is directly enforceable and falls within the competence of the respective lending, financial and other national institutions, Gabriel added.