Volen Siderov

The Ukrainian ambassador to Sofia Mykola Baltazhy stated on Monday that a large wave of refugees fleeing the conflict in his country was not expected to reach Bulgaria.

Baltazhy said in an interview for the Bulgarian National Televesion (BNT) that the conflict in Ukraine threatens not only Bulgaria, but all of Ukraine's neighbours, Europe and Russia.

Bulgaria is being imposed from abroad the EUR 8 B debt proposal now put forward for a vote in Parliament, nationalist Ataka party's leader Volen Siderov has argued.

Siderov has told the Bulgarian National Television that the prospective foreign borrowing is to be used "for military purposes".

The Bulgarian Parliament rejected on Wednesday to include the proposal, which calls for limiting the extension of sanctions against Russia, for discussion in its weekly agenda.

The proposal of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) was first rejected by the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee on January 21, daily Dnevnik reports.

The leader of Bulgarian opposition ATAKA party Volen Siderov on Thursday proposed to Parliament to relax the total ban on indoor smoking in public spaces.

The Parliament's Committee on corruption, conflicts of interest and parliamentary ethics will stop reviewing anonymous tip-offs, according to Valentin Nikolov, chair of the entity.

The students behind last year's occupation of Sofia University are organising a protest demanding the resignations of several controversial politicians, who were appointed to high-level positions.

Lawmakers in Bulgaria's Parliament set up twelve permanent Committees on Thursday and are to create the remaining ten on Friday, amid controversy over how seats are allocated.

Most party group Chairmen remained ordinary members of committees, with the exception of Bulgarian Democratic Center (BDC)'s Svetlin Tanchev, who is presiding over the committee on European affairs.

Volen Siderov, who heads the ultra-nationalist party Ataka, has renounced the immunity he enjoys as a lawmaker in order to face prosecution.

Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva announced at the beginning of Wednesday's plenary session that Siderov had submitted the day before a declaration to request the move.

The National Assembly has approved four of the five requests to lift the immunity of lawmakers submitted earlier this week.

Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov demanded on Monday that former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, ultra-nationalist Ataka party's leader Volen Siderov and three other MPs be stripped of their immunity from prosecution.

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov has asked Parliament to strip 5 MPs of their immunity from prosecution, including Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Volen Siderov, Georgi Svilenski, Iliya Iliev, Dimitar Dimitrov, and MEP Sergey Stanishev.

The move aims to pave the way for criminal proceedings against MPs with immunity from prosecution.