site.btaBulgarian Ship RSV 421 Sets Off from Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentina
The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) set off from the coast of Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentina.
It docked at the city's port on February 23, where it was solemnly welcomed by the Bulgarian community, which organized a show with folk songs and dances and meetings for international scientific exchange.
About 2,000 descendants of Bulgarian immigrants live in Comodoro Rivadavia, which is home to the Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian Society. Founded in 1989, the society aims to bring together descendants of Bulgarians who settled in Argentina in the 1930s. It includes the Kirilcheta folk dance ensemble and the Orpheus music group, which perform at community celebrations and showcase Bulgarian culture and traditions to the wider Argentine public.
Comodoro Rivadavia is the largest city in the central section of the San Jorge Gulf coastline. With a population of about 180,000, it is the biggest city in Argentina’s Chubut Province in the Patagonian region. Established in 1901, the city was named after Commodore Martin Rivadavia, a prominent figure in the development of southern Argentina. After oil was discovered in the area in 1907, large numbers of immigrants, including Bulgarians, moved to Comodoro Rivadavia to work in the oil fields and at the refinery opened in 1922. A 1,770-kilometre gas pipeline was later built linking the city to the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.
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. These 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). BTA's Director General Kiril Valchev announced ahead of the fourth voyage to Antarctica on November 7, 2025, that the national news agency would send a special correspondent in January-February 2026.
He said the press clubs exist thanks to the generous support of RSV 421 and Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Base, which provide the necessary facilities.
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".
/RY/
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