Politics of Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday promised "harsh" punishment for foreign interference in next year's election, where he will seek to extend his decades-long grip on power into the 2030s.

"In the last year, all the predictions for a quick victory of the dictator Putin turned out to be wrong, and today it is obvious that the assessments of his unshakable power are also wrong", commented former prime minister and current co-chairman of "We Continue the Change" Kiril Petkov.

Day 486 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

From February 24 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, until April of this year, more than 200 applications were submitted to the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees requesting the granting of political asylum to citizens of the Russian Federation. Of these, only 8 were approved, according to data from the emigrant organization "For Free Russia", founded in Bulgaria.

The military channel "Zvezda" released a video of the arrest of a Bulgarian with Ukrainian citizenship, who was detained yesterday in Russia by anti-terrorists. The video shows a man being handcuffed in front of a silver Volkswagen van with a registration number from Plovdiv. You can hear how the man wants to put on some pants first.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says it has arrested a group of saboteurs suspected of plotting assassination attempts against senior officials in annexed Crimea. The case involves seven people - Ukrainians, Russians and one Bulgarian.

"Poland is on the path of strengthening military efforts... They are carrying out open hostile actions against Russia. The latest events represent a direct challenge to Putin," the expert believes.

The first meeting of the new parliament will be on Wednesday, April 12, announced the presidential administration.

The head of state signed the decree today on the basis of Art. 75 of the Constitution.

The deputies will gather in the National Assembly at 10:00 a.m.

The Kremlin on Monday denied Turkish reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to visit the Turksih capital, Ankara. [Reuters]

Day 396 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours: