Bulgaria to Extradite Russian Critic of War in Ukraine

An anti-war sign on an abandoned hotel in the central part of Varna, Bulgaria. Photo: Svetoslav Todorov

Supporters of Alchin, who runs a successful business in Russia extracting precious metals from scrap, have called for a protest in Varna on Tuesday against a ruling by the city court on August 8 that his extradition could go ahead.

The ruling came despite current European Union sanctions in place against Russia over its February invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war.

Russian prosecutors accuse Alchin of failing to pay more than 282 million rubles in taxes, or roughly 4.5 million euros.

Varna has a large Russian community and a growing number of Ukrainians since Russia launched its war and thousands of Ukrainian refugees headed to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in search of shelter.

Alchin, who has lived in Varna for the past five years, had already caught the eye of local media after setting fire to his Russian passport during the first outpouring of support for Ukraine in Varna in late February.

His supporters say the extradition request is purely political.

"I can't get my head around this," writer Zachary Karabashliev, who attended a rally on Monday in support of Alchin, wrote on Facebook.  "If we, the free citizens, let this thing happen, we're ceding the judicial institution, our most important one, to Russia's orbit."

Alchin says he was first detained in May but released after two weeks and placed under house arrest. He returned to prison on August 1.

In a post on Facebook on August 4, Alchin said his business success "quickly interested those in power."

"I, as a person who has never hidden my oppositional views, proved to be an attractive target for them," he said.

Since the 2014...