The Bulgarian authorities are preparing amendments to the country's criminal code that will allow the Kremlin regime to be prosecuted for its war of aggression against Ukraine.

"Our goal is for Bulgaria to be able to launch criminal proceedings, exercising universal jurisdiction, for the committed war crimes and crimes against peace and humanity in Ukraine. This will be an act of support for international efforts to investigate Russian aggression in Ukraine," Bulgarian Justice Minister Atanas Slavov said in an interview with Euractiv.

According to documents seen by Euractiv and discussed at Coreper II meetings last year, Bulgaria is among the minority of EU countries that have not initiated criminal proceedings for war crimes in Ukraine or for evading EU sanctions against Russia.

"It is crucial that Bulgaria can initiate proceedings for war crimes in Ukraine, exercising universal jurisdiction, given the large number of Ukrainian refugees in the country. They can testify," Slavov said.

There are almost 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria, many of them from areas where combat actions are taking place, such as Kherson Oblast. The Bulgarian minority in Ukraine numbers 200,000 people, many of whom may also be able to contribute to war crimes investigations following the outbreak of Russian aggression.

Once the data is collected from all European countries, this evidence could be invaluable in the establishment of a future war crimes tribunal in Ukraine.

"I would be very happy if such a step would help the future international investigation by an international tribunal, and Bulgaria would actively participate in the efforts of the international community," he added.

Many European countries have already launched investigations, some of which are questioning hundreds of thousands of people, with the Baltic republics being the most active, according to documents seen by Euractiv.

Slavov said that the future inclusion of the offence of "aggression" in Bulgaria's Criminal Code "will allow the prosecution of the military-political leadership that issued the orders for the relevant military actions in Ukraine."

"Because the evidence of war crimes on the ground often reaches a medium level. While the crime of ‘aggression’ is for the high management level. At the European level, there is the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. Our idea is for Bulgaria to actively contribute to European efforts because we have committed to this." 

It was revealed earlier that Bulgaria had searched the premises of the General Directorate Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of the Interior in connection with suspicions of spying for Russia.

The Bulgarian media reported that the suspect supposedly passed classified information to a former diplomat of the Russian Embassy in Sofia, who was recently declared persona non grata.

In the second half of 2023, Bulgaria ordered that Archimandrite Vassian, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, and Alexander Gatsak, a propagandist from the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, leave the country.