Russia's Ambassador Mitrofanova: I have no information why Hristo Grozev is on the wanted list

I don't know why Hristo Grozev is wanted, but he is wanted only in Russia. He can go wherever he wants", Russia’s ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova said after the meeting at the Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Ministry on December 29, where she was summoned in connection with reports that the Kremlin has put Bulgarian investigative journalist Hristo Grozev on a Russian federal wanted list.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry has summoned Russian ambassador Mitrofanova over Kremlin’s warrant for Bulgarian journalist Hristo Grozev

Referring to the ban on studying the Bulgarian language and the portraits reportedly being taken down from schools in in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, Mitrofanova said that there was no deliberate action, but the state was encouraging foreign languages and culture to develop in the Russian Federation.

Asked what she thought about Bulgarian-Russian relations, she said that this was unfortunately a sad issue.

Shortly after that, the Russian embassy circulated a comment:

"On 29 December, the Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, was invited to the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss topical issues on the bilateral agenda, including the situation with the teaching of the Bulgarian language in Russia and the announcement by Russian law enforcement authorities that Bulgarian citizen H. Grozev is wanted.

We stressed that in view of the multinational nature of the Russian state, the free study of native languages is an inalienable right of citizens and is encouraged at the federal level. We agreed to clarify the details of the teaching of the Bulgarian language in Zaporozhye region.

We clarified the situation with H. Grozev, emphasizing that a violation of Russian law entails relevant legal consequences, independent of the type of activity of the accused/suspected person or his citizenship. We stressed that we were not talking about intimidation of the journalist or any threat to his life."

Images by Dessislava Kulelieva, BNT