Non-resident investments in Bulgarian real estate in January-November 2025 resulted in a net outflow of €18.6 million, while Russia recorded a net outflow of €19.9 million, according to data from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).
According to BNB data, a year earlier (January-November 2024), the net outflow of non-resident investments in real estate was estimated at €11.6 million.
The net outflow indicator means that non-residents’ payments under real estate agreements in the country during the period under review were lower than receipts, i.e., sales exceeded purchases in value terms. At the same time, the fact that the total indicator for all non-residents (-€18.6 million) was less than the outflow for the Russian Federation (-€19.9 million) formally indicates a small aggregate net inflow of investment in real estate from other countries (about €1.3 million).
The BNB report, which is referenced by the media, does not provide a separate breakdown by other countries (including Ukraine) in terms of non-resident investment in real estate—only Russia is highlighted separately.
Noble Capital RSD LLC has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Russia, and the Russian National Wealth Fund, demanding recognition of obligations on sovereign bonds of the Russian Empire placed with investors in the US and recovery of at least $225.8 billion from the defendants. The court documents are available here: https://ia800707.us.archive.org/35/items/gov.uscourts.dcd.281398/gov.uscourts.dcd.281398.1.0.pdf
According to the text of the complaint, the plaintiff is asking the court to issue a declaratory judgment on the principal debt and interest (adjusted for gold), as well as to recognize the possibility of “setting off” of this amount against “blocked sovereign assets of the Russian Federation” in accounts at financial institutions where such assets may be located. Claims for interim measures have also been filed – a ban on the transfer or “mobilization” of blocked assets and the appointment of an equitable receiver for the purposes of recovery.
The case materials indicate that the defendants were notified of the lawsuit on October 1, 2025, and the court granted the Russian side an extension to respond to the lawsuit until January 29, 2026.
This approach (set-off through a private law dispute) can be seen as an attempt to shift the discussion of frozen assets from the realm of political confiscation to the realm of civil law mechanisms.
After February 24, 2022, some countries froze significant amounts of Russian sovereign assets. The European Union froze €210 billion, with Euroclear holding approximately €193 billion of these funds.
https://ia800707.us.archive.org/35/items/gov.uscourts.dcd.281398/gov.uscourts.dcd.281398.1.0.pdf
Noble Capital RSD LLC is a private company in the form of an LLC registered in the state of Delaware (USA). In court documents, it is described as the assignee and legal owner of a block of “sovereign bonds” placed in the US during the Russian Empire.
The Cabinet of Ministers has extended the ban on imports of goods originating from Russia into the customs territory of Ukraine until December 31, 2026.
According to Resolution No. 1707 of December 24, the government amended Cabinet Resolution No. 1147 of December 30, 2015, which is updated annually.
In addition, by Resolution No. 1706, the government extended the term of Resolution No. 1146 of December 30, 2015, which establishes import duty rates on goods originating in the Russian Federation, for another year, until December 31, 2026. These instruments have been in effect since 2015 as countermeasures in response to economic pressure that has been going on for many years.
As reported, in 2015, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted two resolutions restricting trade with Russia in response to the actions of the aggressor state against Ukraine, in particular, the unilateral termination by the Russian Federation of the Agreement on the Free Trade Area within the CIS with regard to Ukraine and the introduction of bans on the import of a number of goods of Ukrainian origin from January 1, 2016. The validity of these acts is extended every year in December.
The US has proposed a meeting between the national security advisors (NSA) of Ukraine, the US, and Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, expressing cautious optimism about the prospects for such a meeting.
“As for Umerov (Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, who is in the US, where he held talks with American and European partners on ending the war), he called me and said that America is now proposing a trilateral meeting of the NSA – America, Ukraine, Russia,” Zelensky said in comments to reporters on Saturday.
The president noted that he is not sure that this meeting will bring anything new, but pointed out that a similar meeting in Turkey resulted in the return of captured military personnel and civilians, so it is worth holding such meetings.
“I believe that this is not everything we wanted, but it is very important. I am very glad that we had exchanges. Our people, our military personnel, especially prisoners, have returned home. And civilians too. And that is why such steps must be taken. And if there can now be a meeting that will unblock the exchanges, or if the result of the trilateral NSA meeting could be an agreement on a trilateral meeting of leaders, and I have said this many times, there are complex issues that must be resolved by the leaders of the states. Therefore, if the results are exchanges or some other agreements, I cannot be against it, we will then support the proposal of the United States of America. Let’s see how it goes,” Zelensky said.
The vast majority of European countries in 2022-2024, before President Donald Trump returned to the US presidency in January 2025, bought much more oil and gas from Russia than they provided support to Ukraine, said US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
“I knew that many of these countries had tied their energy fortunes to Russia, but I had no idea of the scale of this or how much (collectively) it overshadowed their aid to Ukraine,” he wrote on social media on Saturday.
Landau illustrated his post with a chart provided to him by the US State Department. He specified that he had requested this data in connection with his trip this week to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, replacing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. After the meeting, Landau sharply criticized the EU countries.
According to the chart, only five of the 24 European countries provided Ukraine with financial assistance (grants and loans) that exceeded Russia’s payments for oil and gas: the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland. In the case of Switzerland, there are no oil and gas payments to Russia, while in the case of the Scandinavian countries, they are small – up to $1 billion, with aid to Ukraine ranging from $5 billion to $10 billion (here and below are approximate figures, as the chart does not contain exact data). Overall, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway ranked 3rd, 6th, and 8th, respectively, in terms of aid to Ukraine among the 24 countries listed.
And even in the case of the UK, which paid Russia about $3.5 billion for hydrocarbons, this is still much less than the aid provided to Ukraine, which is estimated at $15 billion — the second highest figure among the 24 countries.
Finland’s aid to Ukraine and purchases of Russian oil and gas are roughly equal, while in the case of Lithuania and Latvia, oil and gas payments to Russia already exceed aid to Ukraine, according to the US State Department’s estimates. (Estonia is not included in the chart, as are other countries whose aid or hydrocarbon imports from Russia during this period were less than $1 billion.
Germany, Ukraine’s largest European donor with approximately $17.5 billion in aid, purchased $20 billion worth of Russian oil and gas in 2022-2024. The Netherlands, which ranks fourth on the list of aid with approximately $8.5 billion, imported nearly $5 billion worth of hydrocarbons from Russia.
In France, this ratio is approximately $6 billion against more than $20 billion, in Poland $5.5 billion against $12 billion, and in Italy $3 billion against $27.5 billion: this is the 10th indicator in terms of aid to Ukraine and the 2nd in terms of imports from Russia.
The absolute record holder in this regard is Turkey, whose financial support to Ukraine is difficult to estimate even at $0.2 billion, while purchases of Russian oil and gas amount to about $32 billion.
Hungary, with even smaller amounts of aid, sent Russia about $22 billion for oil and gas, and Slovakia sent about $18 billion, although its support for Ukraine can be estimated at approximately $1.5 billion.
The Czech Republic’s financial assistance to Ukraine in 2022-2024 is about $1 billion, according to the US State Department’s estimates, which is also much less than the volume of Russian hydrocarbon purchases, which amounted to about $15 billion. Spain looks better in terms of these indicators
— $2 billion versus $12 billion — as does Bulgaria — $0.5 billion versus $9 billion.
Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine may resume in Turkey, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview with broadcaster A Haber.
“Well, of course, we cannot go into details for reasons that you will understand, I mean, I think it (the talks – IF-U) could happen in Turkey, it could happen in other places. But this peace not only must happen, it will happen,” the minister said.
Fidan stressed that the war is now at its “darkest moment” and that both sides, according to him, are focused on destroying each other’s infrastructure. He noted that the use of drones and “kamikaze” drones makes it difficult to move around and conduct operations, and that the successes of the Ukrainian and Russian forces come at a high human cost.
