The drone attack on commercial vessels and the unexpected arrival in Bulgaria of Iva Mihaylova, a woman of dual citizenship of Bulgaria and North Macedonia, who is on trial in North Macedonia over a fatal road accident, dominate the news media on Tuesday.
DRONE ATTACK IN THE BLACK SEA
All media outlets have the drone attack story and it was also discussed in the morning programmes of the public boadcasters.
Protection against drones must cover not only ships and critical infrastructure but also crews, citizens and the population inland, said on Bulgarian National Television Col. Ivan Milanov of the International Drone Defense Association in comments on drone attack on merchant ships off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in the early hours of Tuesday. Early detection of the threat, coordination and readiness to respond are key, he said. Milanov said the debate should focus on the need for a comprehensive system rather than on the exact distance at which the incident occurred, since two or three miles more or less make no difference. No defence is effective without a full chain of observation, detection, identification, threat assessment, a decision to engage, and engagement itself. He criticized the government for reacting, again, only after an incident, noting that the alert came belatedly from a duty officer of a civilian maritime traffic organization, which shows there is no unified system. Reaction time is decisive, he said. Protection of people, he added, should come first, and the questions to ask are whether crews, citizens and the population, including inland, are protected, prepared, and covered by a working system.
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Former MEP Alexander Yordanov said on bTV’s morning programme that Bulgaria should take a much firmer stance against Russian aggression and consider downgrading diplomatic relations with Moscow, including recalling the Russian ambassador. Yordanov was responding to Prime Minister Rumen Radev’s stated intention to summon Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova over the attack on commercial vessels on Tuesday. Bulgaria needs a clear and categorical position against Russian aggression, which has continued for many years, he said. In his view, the attacks are part of a broader effort to destabilise the region, an “export of aggression” aimed at unsettling an area beyond the war zone itself. He urged Bulgaria to coordinate its position with other EU states and take firmer diplomatic action, saying Mitrofanova should not simply be invited for “coffee” and a friendly reprimand. The EU, he said, must send Moscow a clear signal to end the war in Ukraine. Yordanov said he is convinced the latest strikes are Russian, and pointed to reports that one of the affected ships sails under the Maltese flag.
Lawyer and international law specialist Ivaylo Dermendzhiev, also on bTV, said it is legally important to distinguish between Bulgaria’s territorial waters, contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. The new incident is considerably closer to the Bulgarian coast than earlier attacks, he said, lying in the contiguous zone, which is not Bulgarian territory but is subject to a different regime from the economic zone. Territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles from the baselines and the contiguous zone up to 24, and in the latter the coastal state has certain control powers over customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary matters.
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Vazrazhdane MP Tsoncho Ganev told bTV that Bulgaria is an active participant in the Russia-Ukraine military conflict and should not be surprised by what he called “incidents” involving ships in the Black Sea. He was commenting on “two successive incidents” involving commercial vessels off the Bulgarian coast. Ganev said no one should be surprised by what is happening, citing other cases he links to national security threats, including an incident with a Ukrainian drone in August and the detention of two Ukrainian officers near a gas distribution facility. He said Bulgaria continues to provide military and financial support to Ukraine, which places it in “a particular position” in the conflict. He criticized the agreement signed between Bulgaria and Ukraine and the cost of supporting Kyiv. He also raised questions about a recent Sofia visit by Kyrylo Budanov, the Chief of Staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and suggested a possible redistribution of commissions to the new governing majority, without presenting evidence for the claim. Asked whether the cabinet is moving in the right direction, Ganev said the country is late in its response, tying this to Bulgaria’s policy toward Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. He recalled the restrictions on Russian ships’ access to Bulgarian ports, the sanctions and the changes in energy supplies, which in his view show that Bulgaria is a party to the conflict even though it does not officially take part in hostilities.
IVA MIHAYLOVA’S RETURN
The case of Iva Mihaylova involves a game played for two audiences, international and domestic, Assoc. Prof. Boyan Hadzhiev, who teaches international relations at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), told Bulgarian National Radio. For the outside world, he said, the narrative is that the “big bad wolf” Bulgaria is again interfering in North Macedonia’s internal affairs and trying to block its European future. At home, North Macedonia’s political leadership needs “to sharpen the debate”, perhaps even divert attention, to show strength to its radical audience. He said it remains to be seen whether this is a passing flare-up. Bulgarian-Macedonian relations are strongly asymmetrical, he added, and Bulgaria, not North Macedonia, is the stronger side on which North Macedonia’s future depends. This runs through guaranteeing the rights of Bulgarian citizens in North Macedonia and an adequate reading of the two countries’ shared cultural and historical past. Instead of becoming a first step toward rapprochement, he said, the case has been turned into one more point of division. If North Macedonia’s authorities are so sure of Mihaylova’s guilt, he asked, why have they been unable to move the case forward in a year? A young woman has been caught in a trap of political games, he said, and has become a victim and a symbol of the ferocity of North Macedonia’s elite toward Bulgarians. Hadzhiev drew a distinction between two aspects of the case. One is a person’s right to healthcare and respect for human rights, which he said Mihaylova has not received in North Macedonia. The other is the incident for which she was arrested, which should be judged separately, since nationality is irrelevant when a crime is involved. A fair trial, he said, is something North Macedonia can hardly deliver at present. He argued that the conduct of its leaders heightens tensions and turns a serious car accident into a question of national security and of North Macedonia’s European future, with the emphasis coming from Skopje for various reasons.
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Former Bulgarian ambassador to North Macedonia Alexander Yordanov told bTV that Iva Mihaylova’s return to Bulgaria may be the result of a coordinated operation by the intelligence services on both sides of the border. Lawyer and international law specialist Ivaylo Dermendzhiev offered a different explanation: the young woman may have travelled through Greece and entered Bulgaria across an internal Schengen border.
Yordanov said such a border crossing would hardly be possible without the services’ knowledge, and that it could only happen through mutual agreement, making it “perhaps a successful operation” of the two countries’ intelligence services. In his view the development could serve different interests in Sofia and Skopje. Bulgaria’s aim is purely humanitarian, he said: for a young woman to come to Bulgaria and get serious medical supervision, which has already been achieved. Skopje, too, would have a political interest, since the case has drawn international attention. It could rid itself of a sensitive problem while making new accusations against Bulgaria over how Mihaylova left the country.
Dermendzhiev did not endorse the joint-operation theory. He said he would rather assume that gaps in the Schengen system were used, and that Mihaylova entered Bulgaria across the only internal Schengen border available, the one with Greece, where the absence of regular border checks could explain her entry. From a legal standpoint, he said, the main question is how she left North Macedonia under an active court ban. That is a problem on Macedonian territory and for its court, since she is now outside the country and the order has been breached. He distinguished two separate proceedings: the trial over the serious car accident in which a person died and in which she is a defendant, carrying a maximum sentence of up to 20 years, and a possible case over illegal border crossing. The Macedonian court is likely waiting for the police investigation into how the crossing took place and will probably change her preventive measure on that basis. An extradition request may follow, he said, but its execution is not automatic. Mihaylova’s Bulgarian citizenship is a significant factor, and in his view Bulgaria should refuse to surrender her, citing a legal provision not specified in the conversation.
ECONOMY
Progressive Bulgaria MP Stefan Belchev said in an interview on 24 chasa that next year’s budget deficit should be “considerably smaller,” with the government’s latest estimate putting it at 3.5%. Belchev argued that the target cannot be reached without addressing inflated spending, including on state administration, where pay for interior ministry and military personnel nearly doubled in earlier periods. He also explained that energy companies and Lukoil Neftohim were left out because previous governments have already taxed them heavily and they need resources to recover. Asked whether “invoices allegedly hidden in drawers”, which the power-holders blamed for inflating the 2026 deficit, have been settled, Belchev said he cannot predict what the audits ordered by the National Audit Office will establish. He described a practice in which, for example, the head of an agency such as the Road Infrastructure Agency gives a contractor a “gentleman’s word” that work will be paid for when money is available. He said that grossly violates the Accountancy Act and the Public Finance Act. Belchev recalled that budget revisions in the aftermath of Audit Office checks are not unprecedented: in 2022 the 2021 deficit was revised from BGN 2.8 billion to BGN 3.9 billion, and in 2023 errors of over BGN 6 billion were found in the 2022 budget, a record so far. He urged waiting for the Audit Office’s findings, expected by the end of October but said, nontheless: “This year would be particularly scandalous since Bulgaria has adopted the euro, and it would be reprehensible if the deficit was misreported to get it below 3% and enter the eurozone”. Belchev called the windfall profit tax “a good measure”, and said he agrees with the view that BNB Governor Dimitar Radev spoke “a little politically” on the issue two weeks ago [when he criticized government plans for taxing extra windfall profit]. Given the banking sector’s surplus liquidity, he does not believe the tax would hit banks’ turnover hard enough to push up lending rates. Household deposits grow by several billion annually, and mortgage rates are among the EU’s lowest. He said the government does not intend to drop the measure, as it counts on at least EUR 1 billion from it, though he acknowledged the final version might meet resistance.
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Nikolay Valkanov of the Association for Modern Trade [which includes large supermarket chains] told Nova TV’s morning programme that disrupted movement of goods through the Black Sea and rising fuel prices are driving up the cost of goods, and the effect of the economic and transport problems will spread to all sectors in winter. This makes the role of the Commission for Consumer Protection (CCP) important, he said. Valkanov argued, however, that the examples of excessive markups in supermarkets cited by CCP Chair Maya Manolova are isolated cases from which no conclusions can be drawn about traders’ practices. A gap between purchase and selling price does not mean profit, he said. It reflects costs for transport, labour, energy, advertising, spoilage and write-offs, storage and handling. He added that the data released by the CCP, which put retail-chain markups at between 99 and 141%, has yet to be verified.
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Dnevnik.bg has a story with the headline saying that Bulgarian agriculture reported smaller output at higher value in 2025. The value of Bulgaria’s agricultural output rose by 4.5% year-on-year to BGN 10,141.5 million in 2025, according to the National Statistical Institute (NSI), driven by a 5.3% increase in prices despite a 0.7% decline in production volumes. Crop production accounted for 66.1% of the total, reaching BGN 6,701 million, up 3.9% from 2024, mainly due to higher prices, while output volumes fell by 2.7%. Cereals and industrial crops made up 81.2% of crop production, valued at BGN 3,455.8 million and BGN 1,983.2 million, respectively. The value of livestock production increased by 8.6% to BGN 2,622.6 million, accounting for 25.9% of total agricultural output, as both prices and production volumes rose, by 2.2% and 6.3%, respectively.
SOCIETY
An analysis of campaign financing by Segabg shows that three businessmen have provided most of the funding for the presidential campaign of Andrey Gurov and Georgi Kandev so far. Tenko Nikolov, Ivo Tsanov and Kaloyan Danchev each donated EUR 100,000, out of a total of EUR 375,600 raised by the pair’s nomination committee. Neither committee members nor the candidates themselves have contributed. The data comes from the Audit Office register, where presidential election participants must declare their financing, and reflect the position at 3 p.m. on October 12. The committee backing Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev has received EUR 277,905, mostly in donations of EUR 500 or less. These fall below the EUR 620.20 threshold above which a declaration of the funds’ origin is required. The largest single donation, EUR 14,900, came from Kamen Aleksiev, who cited employment income from the company Rezon OOD. Of the committee’s members, only former MP Petar Kanev has donated EUR 5,000 from commercial or employment activity. Gurov and Iotova account for most of the EUR 729,372 in total donations to date. Ivan Hristanov, agriculture minister in the Gurov caretaker cabinet, who is now running for President, has financed his campaign almost entirely himself, with EUR 104,573.50 in cash and EUR 169,998 in in-kind contributions, all declared as coming from loans. The committee nominating Elin Pelin Mayor Ivaylo Simeonov has raised EUR 75,000, mostly in EUR 5,000 donations, with donors citing savings and salaries (one a property sale). Both candidates contributed EUR 5,000 each, declared as savings from employment income. Former judge Rumyana Chenalova’s committee has received EUR 397 in donations and a further EUR 1,540 from its members and vice-presidential candidate Georgi Georgiev. The remaining 22 pairs have declared nothing so far.
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Prosecutor Ivaylo Angelov, a candidate for the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) from the professional quota, told Trud daily that the judiciary has functioned worse with each successive reform, because the main aim has been to restrict it and place it under control. He proposes abolishing the pre-trial status of “accused” and ending the courts’ practice of returning indictments. He defended his proposal as a way of cutting needless formalism. Where sufficient evidence exists, he argued, a person should go straight to trial, which would speed up pre-trial work and strengthen the right to defence, since the real contest takes place before an independent court rather than before the prosecutor, and would end the figure of the “eternal accused.” Angelov has spent his entire career in the prosecution service and wants the system to be better organized by the time his SJC term ends, with fair and objective promotion competitions and fair pay. All candidates see the same flaws: wide pay gaps between levels and slow and biased competitions, but he differs in the solutions offered. Salaries could be standardized either by an equal percentage increase for all or by a fixed sum, and any magistrate with ten years of conscientious service at one level should automatically receive 90% of the next level’s pay. He argued that real reform in criminal justice lies in the Criminal Procedure Code and the Criminal Code rather than in institutional structure. The current procedure lets a case with five defendants and five experienced defence lawyers be deliberately dragged out until the absolute limitation period expires, and courts schedule hearings around defence lawyers’ availability. He proposes that defence be taken on by law firms obliged to provide a replacement when the original lawyer cannot attend, as the prosecution already does.
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Education Minister Georgi Valchev may dismiss the rector of the University of Agribusiness and Rural Development (UARD) in Plovdiv if she fails to act on a plagiarism case involving Professor Ivo Dimitrov, Prof. Stoyko Stoykov, who filed the complaint against Dimitrov, told Dnevnik.bg. The Commission on Academic Ethics found more than 95% plagiarism in works used by Dimitrov to obtain the academic titles of professor and Doctor of Sciences. Under the law, UARD Rector Svetla Dimitrova must revoke his doctoral degree, invalidate his diploma and terminate his employment as a professor within one month. If she fails to do so, the Education Minister is required to dismiss her and appoint an acting rector for six months, pending the election of a new rector.
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