Bulgaria to Oppose EU Sanctions Against Russian Patriarch Kirill

Bulgaria to Oppose EU Sanctions Against Russian Patriarch Kirill Bulgaria’s new government will oppose sanctions against the head of the Russian Orthodox Church included in the latest European Union package of measures targeting Moscow, the country’s foreign minister said. Sanctions against Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, can be “counterproductive,” Velislava Petrova told reporters in Sofia on Wednesday. “They create an environment in which anti-European propaganda is waged.”