Bulgaria can challenge Russian church ownership in court

A check by the prosecutor's office has found that there are grounds for the state to attack in court the ownership of the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Andrey Tsekov told journalists after a meeting with Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov.

The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works can file a lawsuit on the basis of which the state will be recognized as the owner of the land and of the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra, also known as the Russian church, it became clear from the words of Viktor Malinov from the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office.

The issue with the Russian church in Sofia arose after the expulsion on September 21 of the rector of the Podvorye of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, Archimandrite Vassian, and two ministers of the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra for what the State Agency for National Security described as activities against Bulgaria's national security and interest. The two Belarusian priests, accused of serving Moscow's geopolitical interests, were expelled from Bulgaria, stripped of the right of residence and barred from entering Bulgaria for a period of five years by order of the Chairperson of the State Agency for National Security. The church was closed on September 22, triggering a protest by citizens demanding that it be reopened and a controversy over who owns the church.