Circumventing EU sanctions: how russian propaganda is spread in Bulgaria
The Center has identified the spread of pro-russian narratives in Bulgaria’s information space aimed at discrediting Ukraine and undermining support for our country.
▫️In particular, kremlin-aligned platforms are promoting narratives claiming that missile strikes on industrial and logistics hubs “call into question the entire economic model of attracting foreign investment to Ukraine” and “block export corridors of Western holdings.” By manipulating concerns about production and port infrastructure vulnerabilities, propagandists shift the focus away from russia’s aggression against Ukraine toward supposedly unjustified risks for foreign businesses.
Resources that systematically spread such claims belong to a segment of media outlets that independent research organizations classify as key centers of pro-kremlin influence in Bulgaria. More than 70% of their content consists of direct reprints, translations and adaptations of material from sanctioned russian state media.
The systematic reposting of kremlin propaganda by local websites not only imposes pro-russian narratives on their audiences, but also serves another important function for moscow — helping circumvent EU sanctions.
To ensure the effectiveness of European sanctions, the international community should also pay attention to such local retransmission platforms, which allow blocked russian propaganda to penetrate the information space of EU member states.
