29.12.2022
“Bulgaria has not been officially notified by the Russian Federation about the charges brought against the journalist Hristo Grozev. For us, this act is unacceptable. It constitutes an attack on the freedom of speech and an attempt to intimidate a Bulgarian citizen,” Prime Minister Galab Donev said before the start of the Cabinet’s last meeting for the year. The Prime Minister noted that the Government, through the agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, would express an official protest against the announcement that Mr. Grozev was wanted and would demand full information about the reasons for this decision.
“The Bulgarian state, through its institutions, is in constant contact with the journalist, long before the information that he was wanted by the Russian Federation became breaking news,” Mr. Donev stressed. The Prime Minister emphasized that the actions to provide assistance by the Bulgarian Government were not provoked by pressure, as some claimed, and added that after an hour, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give an explanation on the case. In the view of the Prime Minister, it is in the interest of Grozev's security that the actions to protect him against a possible threat should not be presented ostentatiously in the news broadcasts.
Further, the Prime Minister pointed to an aspect of the Caretaker Government’s modus operandi, viz. the respect in its treatment of journalists. “It is respect for each and every journalist, shown every day and not in circumstances of a crisis where some gain is sought,” the Prime Minister noted.
Before the opening of the Cabinet’s last meeting for the year, Prime Minister Galab Donev thanked the Cabinet Ministers for a job well done.
