Black Sea

All US warships that were previously deployed to the Black Sea have now left its basin, the Russian Navy's General Staff has announced.

The destroyer USS Taylor was reported by Interfax agency to be in the Mediterranean on Monday after its 21-day-long stay in the Black Sea allowed by the Montreux Convention setting a three-week time limit for foreign vessels.

A Bulgarian consular office will be opened in Yekaterinburg by mid-June, according to Deputy Prime Minister Daniela Bobeva.

Bobeva and Deputy Economy Minister Branimir Botev took part Sunday in a meeting with tourism industry representatives.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to the recently-annexed Crimean peninsula was condemned by EU, US and NATO officials. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has flown to the Crimean Peninsula, which was absorded by Russia from Ukraine, as part of Victory Day celebrations.

It is the first time the President goes to Crimea after it became part of the Russian Federation following a local referendum.

The French sports goods retail chain Decathlon plans to open two more stores in Bulgaria, reports the business daily Capital Daily. 

Currently the company has two stores in Sofia and is planning imminent expansion in Plovdiv and Varna. The plans of a third store in Sofia and a first one in Burgas also remain, but the company hasn't set a time frame yet.

Russia displayed its full military might during the annual Victory Day parade at the Red Square in Moscow.

The country marked the 69th anniversary of the defeat over Nazi Germany in WW II.

The military exercise, codenamed “Vector 2014”, is to end later this week and will involve some 1,600 naval personnel, the Romanian Defence Ministry confirmed on Monday.

“The exercise is organized annually and aims at training naval structures for their missions. It was planned around one year ago,” the ministry said.

Some 67 people detained for participating in violent clashes were released Sunday after pro-Russian protesters stormed the police headquarters in Odessa, demanding they be let go.

The Bulgarian cultural center in Odessa has not been the target of a deliberate attack, according to a media statement of the Foreign Ministry.

The statement comes in response to media publications informing of damages to the All-Ukrainian Center for Bulgarian Culture in Odessa.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton demanded an independent probe to establish those responsible for the violence that left over forty dead on Friday in Odessa, Ukraine.

On Friday, clashes between pro- and anti- government protesters in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa killed at least 42 people and left over 125 injured.