During the election campaign, members and candidate MPs of the pro-Russian political party “Revival” obstructed and physically prevented specialists from the Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator “Energoatom” from accessing the Belene Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The scheduled visit on Monday (May 14) aimed to allow the Ukrainian delegation to inspect the equipment supplied under the project, which the Bulgarian government intends to sell to Kyiv. This visit was arranged following a decision by the National Assembly in July 2023 to initiate negotiations for the potential sale of equipment designated for the Belene NPP project.
However, upon the arrival of the Ukrainian delegation, they were met with a protest led by “Revival,” with candidate for deputy Ivelin Parvanov at the forefront. A video shared on the party’s official Facebook page depicts the Ukrainians’ vehicle being halted and turned away by the protestors. Notably, law enforcement was absent during the confrontation, with a police car only appearing after the Ukrainians had departed from the scene. Kostadin Kostadinov, the leader of “Revival,” subsequently praised the incident on social media platforms.