Bulgaria complained to the EU about Russia and Serbia
Russia does not allow Serbia to extradite banker Tsvetan Vasiliev, accused of the “Bulgarian theft of the century,” to Bulgaria. The chief prosecutor of Bulgaria, Ivan Geshev, complained to the European Parliament and the European Commission about this.
Euractiv writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Tsvetan Vasiliev is under the protection of the Russian state with the help of the Serbian state,” Geshev said in Brussels, but could not explain the alleged Russian connection to the case.
Tzvetan Vasiliev, the notorious owner of the corporate commercial bank CCB, has lived in Serbia since the bank's bankruptcy in 2014. SSV was the fourth largest bank in Bulgaria, and its collapse also triggered the fall of the Bulgarian government.
Huge sums of money were allegedly taken out in trucks with bags. Vasiliev is accused of embezzling 2,6 billion leva (€1,3 billion).
Vasiliev's extradition case is currently stuck between the High Court and the Belgrade Court of Appeal. Four years and eight months have passed since the subsequent extradition request was filed. Ivan Geshev’s letter was sent to the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Let us recall that Bulgaria, under the pretext of tender procedures, delayed for six months the construction of the Balkan Stream gas pipeline, which is an overland continuation of the Turkish Stream towards Austria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, threatened that Gazprom could change the route of the gas pipeline if sabotage on the Bulgarian side continues.
In response, the Bulgarian side assured that the gas pipeline would be commissioned by the end of May 2020.
At the beginning of January 2019, Bulgaria declared two Russian diplomats persona non grata.
“Bulgaria is not a purely sovereign state. It depends too much on the decisions of the European Commission and on the tranches of various Western financial organizations that are controlled from Washington,” said political scientist Oleg Bondarenko.
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