Bulgaria has not sanctioned Russians since 2014

Bulgaria has not imposed sanctions against Russian citizens or companies featured on the EU sanctions list since they were first imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, according to answers provided by the national tax agency in response to an access to information inquiry filed by EURACTIV and Mediapool.bg.

In Bulgaria, nearly 300,000 Russians own over 500,000 properties, according to the latest data released by the authorities in 2019, but the tax agency, while acknowledging that it should apply the EU regulation on sanctions, has not done so for now.

While the Bulgarian legal system only provides a procedure to seize assets and not freeze them, EU countries like Bulgaria must directly apply EU regulations on sanctions, meaning tax authorities should initiate freezing procedures even if no national regulation provides for such procedures, lawyers told EURACTIV.

On top of that, the tax agency has not issued a single act to impose sanctions for the last eight years, according to the agency’s answers as part of the inquiry.

Source: EURACTIV