Bulgaria initiates bill to freeze Russian assets

Bulgarian lawmakers have proposed a bill to the parliament to freeze Russian assets, as the local publication Novinite reported. The document aims to establish a procedure for prohibiting the use of Russian-owned property on the country’s territory, including assets owned by individuals subject to sanctions.

The initiative aims, among other things, to return the Kamchia sanatorium and rehabilitation complex on the Black Sea coast to state ownership. “The draft law, developed in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, is aimed at ensuring Bulgaria complies with international restrictive measures (sanctions),” according to journalists.

The document also includes provisions for maintaining a public list of sanctioned individuals on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria’s website to protect the rights of third parties.

The bill was initiated by deputies Ivaylo Mirchev and Nadezhda Yordanova, representing the coalition ‘We Continue the Changes – Democratic Bulgaria.’ Legislators hope for support from other parliamentary factions.

Mirchev emphasized the need to adopt a special law for Bulgaria to fulfill its obligations regarding implementing sanctions against Russia.

Earlier, a group of Czech lawmakers drafted a bill on the ‘Protection of the Security of the Czech Republic.’ The initiative would allow the expropriation of foreign property ‘to safeguard the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic principles of the Czech Republic.’ Similar draft laws are currently under analysis in Latvia and Estonia as well.

In December, the US proposed to the G7 countries to analyze possible ways of confiscating US$300 billion of frozen Russian assets. Ukraine’s partners aim to coordinate the action plan before the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Editor-at-Large at the National Post, columnist at Kyiv Post, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Eurasia Center, author, and publisher Diane Francis called on the West to confiscate Russian frozen assets as soon as possible.