site.btaScientists and Crew from RSV 421 Visit Bulgaria's Antarctic Base

Scientists and crew members from the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) paid a visit to Bulgaria's St Kliment Ohridski Antarctic Base.

They were welcomed by Dragomir Mateev, Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, and by the base commander, Kamen Nedkov, who presented the progress made in furnishing the new laboratory facilities.

On Saturday, engineer and amateur radio operator Ivaylo Nachev told BTA that he has restored the base's radio station and spoke about the communications he has established during Bulgaria's 34th Antarctic expedition.

Professor Razvigor Darlenski, a dermatologist, told BTA about his project testing the skin of expedition members and the changes observed under the continent's extreme environmental conditions.

Meanwhile, several stages of ongoing scientific projects were carried out at the base, including seabed bathymetry, monitoring of seismic points, research diving and microbiological sampling.

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. The news items of BTA's special correspondents on RSV 421 and Antarctica are freely available in Bulgarian and English 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”.