site.btaRSV 421 Crew to Visit Bulgaria’s Antarctic Base, Scientific Projects Continue on Livingston Island

Part of the crew of the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii will visit Bulgaria’s Antarctic base St Kliment Ohridski Base on Saturday. The ship also plans to carry out cargo loading and unloading operations during the day.

Weather conditions at the base are expected to allow the implementation of stages of water-based projects. Boats are expected to head out to sea for bathymetric surveys and scientific diving. Geophysicist Kiril Velkovski and physicist Oleg Vasilev are continuing their project on seabed bathymetry and coastal mapping of Livingston Island. Greek oceanologists Eleni Kytinou and Dionysia Rigatou will carry out their third scientific dive as part of the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition.

Microbiologist Snezhana Rusinova-Videva is planning field sampling in nearby bays, while seismologist Gergana Georgieva continues glacier monitoring in the area around the base. Dermatologist Razvigor Darlenski is preparing a project related to medical testing of the Antarctic expedition members. Economist and lawyer Marina Stefanova will proceed with the next stage of a sociological study within a broader research project on Antarctica.

The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) departed for Antarctica from Varna (on the Black Sea) on November 7, 2025. After a month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship arrived at the Argentine naval base in Mar del Plata on December 13.

BTA has had a national press club on board the ship since 2022 and another on Livingston Island since February 2024. BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said they exist thanks to the generous support of RSV 421 and Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Base, which provide the necessary facilities. These two press clubs are added to the news agency’s other 41 national press clubs (33 in Bulgaria, seven abroad in neighbouring countries and in nations with large Bulgarian communities, and one mobile National Book Press Club). 

The news items of BTA's special correspondents on RSV 421 and Antarctica are freely available in Bulgarian and English on the agency's website. They can be used free of charge by all media, with attribution to BTA. Valchev recalled that thanks to its correspondents, the news agency appears among the top results on Google when searching for the phrase “Antarctica correspondent”.