Did Bulgaria deny Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov permission to fly over its airspace to attend the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in North Macedonia, which took place on November 30 and December 1, 2023? No, that's not true: Bulgaria granted an exception to the EU sanctions against Lavrov, allowing his plane to fly over its…

Does a video on social media show a photo of a burning container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire that was attacked by a suspected Iranian drone on November 25, 2023? No, that's not true: The photo can be traced back to multiple posts from 2019, and it shows a burning oil tanker, not a container ship hit by a…

Does a video on social media show the Chechen army in preparation to be sent to Gaza by order of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov? No, that's not true: The footage shown is from August 2023, predating conflict in the Middle East that began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The claim appeared in a video on…

Did Bulgarian Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev claim that NATO ships will occupy his country's economic zone in the Black Sea? No, that's not true: Tagarev stated that Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are preparing to launch a joint mine-clearing operation in the Black Sea that will mark the first major collaborative operation by the NATO allies bordering the sea since…

Does a video on social media show an address by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, calling on the Ukrainian army to come out of the trenches and march toward Kyiv to overthrow President Zelenskyy? No, that's not true: The footage shown in the TikTok video is heavily edited and does not correspond to the…

Did the Prime Minister of Niger harshly criticize Bulgaria as a failure, a country that turned its land into a lunar landscape, and one that imports garbage and exports brains and blood? No, that's not true: Neither the current Prime Minister of Niger Ali Lamine Zeine, nor his predecessor Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, have made public remarks about Bulgaria or the Bulgarian…

Does a video on social media show Russia and the Russian military intervening on November 5, 2023, to help Gaza? No, that's not true: The footage, which is said to show Russian intervention in Gaza, is a combination of a video from Syria taken no later than 2022 and a video from a stock video website where it was uploaded…

Does a video on social media show the Egyptian army preparing to attack Israel in the fall of 2023? No, that's not true: The video on TikTok shows old footage that has been heavily manipulated. The original video shows the Egyptian army during military exercises, filmed years before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The claim appeared…

Does a video on TikTok show an Israeli drone dropping a bomb on a group of defenseless Palestinian women and children trying to fill water containers? No, that's not true: The footage of the explosion caused by a drone dropping a bomb on a group of people shows a Sudanese drone attack on the Sudanese Rapid Support Force (RSF) militia…

Does this video depict the regrouping and redeployment of the Iranian army towards their western border in response to the Hamas-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: The footage of the Iranian military moving heavy equipment primarily consists of old material, mainly from an Iranian military exercise in September 2022, and does not represent current events related to the Hamas-Israel conflict.…

Does the photo of former Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters raising the Palestinian flag during a concert represent his support for the Palestinian people in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: The photo was taken no later than 2018 and has nothing to do with the conflict between Hamas and Israel that…

Is it true that Prime Minister Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel are planning to impose new COVID-19 measures and travel bans on public transportation for people who are not vaccinated after the local elections in Bulgaria? No, that's not true: On October 10, 2023, the Prime Minister refuted this claim personally in an interview, stating that there is…

Did the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, spend $1.1 million at Cartier in New York in September 2023? No, that's not true: On the date of the Cartier receipt that allegedly proved her jewelry spending in New York Zelenska was in Ottawa, Ontario, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for their visit to the Canadian Parliament and meetings with Prime Minister…

Is it true that call-up military orders have been sent to mobilize the Bulgarian army? No, that's not true: Sending call-up orders is a routine activity of the Central Military District and its structures in Bulgaria. It has nothing to do with the military conflict in Ukraine. It is a routine process of updating the database of people from the…

Does the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria not want Bulgarians to govern their own country and are there "American plans" so that no Bulgarians "will be left in their own country?" No, there is no evidence of such plans by the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria. The claim is based only on allegations posted on Facebook. A search for different phrases used…

Is Ivan Milev, one of those who tragically died in a fire during the events in Odessa on May 2, 2014, а Bulgarian? No, that's not true: According to statements made by relatives of the tragically deceased man and published personal documents of Milev provided to media in Odessa by his relatives, it is clear that Ivan Ivanovich Milev is…

Is it true that Bulgaria's new military aid to Ukraine includes about 100 armoured personnel carriers (APC) that belong to Fire Safety and Civil Protection Chief Directorate and that their donation will hinder rescue operations of distressed Bulgarian nationals during disasters and accidents? No, that's not true: The soon to be donated APCs, produced in the 1960s and 1970s, are…

Did the Russian ambassador in Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, say that Bulgaria refused Russian humanitarian aid for flood-affected settlements? No, that's not true: Russia has not offered humanitarian aid or any other type of help to Bulgaria after the serious floods that occurred in mid-June 2023 in some regions. Mitrofanova did not make a statement accusing the Bulgarian government of refusing…

Has the monthly allowance for Ukrainian refugees increased from 1,200 to 2,400 Bulgarian lev, and has it become several times higher than the pensions received by Bulgarian pensioners? No, that's not true: Ukrainian refugees who sought shelter in Bulgaria do not receive this amount of aid. According to the Social Assistance Agency and the Bulgarian Council for Refugees and Emigrants,…

Has Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán made a statement claiming that the new Bulgarian government, which assumed office on June 6, 2023, is a Soros coup and that as a result, Bulgarians will officially be at war with Russia within a month? No, that's not true: Orbán did not make such a statement. The assertion stems from a post originating from…