In this special edition of Talk Eastern Europe, Alexandra reports in-person from Sofia for a deep dive into disinformation and digital interference in Bulgaria during the last several years of perpetual election campaigning. She speaks with experts Angel Petrov, Gloria Trifonova, and Petko Petkov on Bulgaria’s political landscape, local and Russian backed disinformation, the rise of far-right political actors, and why Russian narratives have resonance in the country.

Commentary by:

• Angel Petrov, World News Reporter at Dnevnik.bg 

• Gloria Trifonova, FIMI Analyst at the Center for the Study of Democracy

• Petko Petkov, a Bulgarian software developer and system architect based in Kyiv and public representative of the BG Elves

To watch the full-length interviews and other behind-the-scene clips, you can check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/talkeasterneurope

Research for this podcast episode was made possible with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Washington, DC’s Transatlantic Media Fellowship. Find out more about the Fellowship, and the Foundation’s work, here: https://us.boell.org/en/2025/05/22/2025-cohort-transatlantic-media-fellowsCheck out the previous episode in this series:

https://talkeasterneurope.eu/episodes/episode-225-live-from-bucharest-romanian-democracy-is-being-pushed-to-its-limits