Political situation in Bulgaria
Pro-Russian candidate wins landslide victory in Bulgaria
The pro-Russian former president Rumen Radev looks set to win Bulgaria's parliamentary elections by a wide margin, Reuters reports. His left-leaning Progressive Bulgaria party is expected to win around 44 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results, which could give it a majority in parliament.
Radev opposes military support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. He wants to break years of political deadlock and calls the election result "a victory for hope over mistrust."
This is Bulgaria's eighth parliamentary election since 2021. Many voters are tired of constant new elections and a
small group of veteran politicians who are perceived as corrupt, the news agency writes.
Middle East crisis Peace talks
Iran: No plans for more peace talks with the US
Iran has no plans for more peace talks with the US at the moment, according to Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Reuters reports.
Baghaei also claims that the US is not acting seriously in the diplomatic process, but has instead carried out “aggressive actions” and violated the ceasefire.
New peace talks were scheduled for today, Monday, in Pakistan and a US delegation plans to travel there. However, Iran announced yesterday that the country would not participate.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that deep disagreements remain over the country’s nuclear energy program and that the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is making the negotiations more difficult.
The ceasefire between the countries expires on Wednesday.
Middle East crisis Israel-Hezbollah
IDF releases map of occupied villages in Lebanon
The Israeli military has released a map of the villages it has taken control of in Lebanon, writes The Guardian. It concerns about a dozen villages in the southern parts of the country and stretches from the eastern side to the western side.
The area extends between five and ten kilometers inland and is intended to be a “buffer zone” to protect Israel from attacks, according to the Israeli military. They justify the fact that the forces remain in place despite the ceasefire by saying that Hezbollah is still active.
At the same time, the Israeli military issued a warning on Monday, urging Lebanese residents not to return to their villages for security reasons.
Russian invasion The world’s response
Orbán may reverse course on the issue of the billion-euro loan to Ukraine
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says he has received signals from Brussels that Ukraine may be ready to resume oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline as early as today. This could cause him to reverse course on the issue of the EU’s billion-euro loan to Ukraine.
“When oil supplies resume, we will no longer stand in the way of approving the loan. The disbursement of the loan does not entail any financial burden or obligation for Hungary,” he writes on X.
But Orbán also writes that he will continue to hold tight to his veto on the 90 billion loan, as long as the Russian oil is not released.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier in April that he would repair the oil pipeline that was damaged at the end of January, after pressure from the EU.
