Bulgaria sees sharp rise in companies with Russian participation

Sofia: According to Bulgarian Commercial Register data, the number of companies with Russian participation in Bulgaria started to increase sharply at the end of 2024.

In September 2024, 12,000 companies with Russian participation were registered in Bulgaria, and by the end of the year, their number had increased by 1,000.

Martin Dimitrov, an MP from the pro-European PP-DB coalition, said the special services must urgently assess these companies’ activity and Russia’s interests in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria was declared a “hostile” country by Russia after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Bulgaria supported the expansion of sanctions against Russia, but the Balkan country remained friendly in implementing restrictive measures.

A Euractiv investigation shows that so far, there are no frozen Russian assets in Bulgaria, as local authorities have banned several transactions by local companies that have sanctioned Russian citizens.

Sofia authorities have allowed the registration of more than 7,300 wholly Russian-owned companies to operate in the country and another 5,700 in which Russian citizens or companies have a 40% stake.

There is no official data on the number of Bulgarian companies in which Russian citizens hold a minority stake of less than 40%.

In September 2024, Moody’s reported that there are more companies with Russian participation in Bulgaria than in Germany and Italy. Bulgaria and Czechia are the most popular countries where Russians can open a business.

The largest company operating in Bulgaria is owned by the Russian oil company Lukoil.

The Russian oil giant, negotiating the sale of its Bulgarian operations for the past year, has generated €7.5 billion in revenue through its oil refinery and petrol station chain, equivalent to 7% of Bulgaria’s GDP.