Are Bulgarian government employees disproportionally higher in number in relation to the total population of the country, and are they "tens of times" more numerous, in proportion, compared to the Netherlands and the US? No, that's not true: The figures indicated in the claim, which includes the total population of the three countries and the number of government employees, do…

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…

Does a video circulating on TikTok show footage captured by Hubble space telescope and released by NASA, featuring the moment a meteorite entered the atmosphere on the evening of July 11, 2023, alarming many people in Bulgaria? No, that's not true: The easily distinguishable watermark on the displayed video suggests the origin of the footage. It can be traced to…

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…

Is the Pentagon planning to conduct biological experiments using Bulgarian soldiers at the Military Medical Academy (MMA) in Sofia? No, that's not true: The documents cited in the claim by Dilyana Gaytandzhieva were falsely interpreted and did not support the allegation that the Pentagon planned experiments on Bulgarian soldiers in Sofia. The claim, which would represent major violations of international…

Is Bill Gates manufacturing and releasing genetically modified mosquitoes to turn them into flying vaccinators? No, that's not true: The "world's biggest mosquito factory" in Medellin, Colombia, does not belong to Gates. Those are regular Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that have not been genetically modified; the aim is to prevent mosquito-borne diseases in a natural way. The claim appeared in a…

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…

Did the US sell eight old scrapped F-16 fighter jets to Bulgaria after it was responsible for the destruction of more than 400 aircraft of the Bulgarian Air Force over the years? No, that's not true: The Bulgarian government has issued an order for a brand-new, state-of-the-art F-16 Block 70 fighter jet, refuting the claims made in the TikTok video…

Did Swedish-made AT-4 anti-tank shoulder-fired missile systems that Sweden and NATO sent to Ukraine end up on the black market and in the hands of a Mexican drug cartel? No, that's not true: Military supplies delivered by NATO to Ukraine are closely monitored and documented. As part of a disinformation campaign, pro-Kremlin propaganda has shared the narrative that weapons delivered…

Is it true that the newly appointed Bulgarian Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova is the leader of Sofia Pride and plans to implement gender-neutral policies in kindergartens? No, that's not true: Shalapatova has never been part of the Sofia Pride organizers' committee and she has personally refuted all allegations about the enforcement of "gender neutrality" policies in…

Did Russia manage to destroy all NATO military aid sent to Ukraine, which is why Ukraine hasn't started a counteroffensive yet? No, that's not true: Russia itself disproved this claim on June 5, 2023, which was approximately six days after the video was posted, when it was reported to have repelled a massive Ukrainian attack. Furthermore, the president of Ukraine,…

Do countries with lower COVID-19 vaccination rates like Bulgaria also have lower excess mortality rates? No, that's not true: The selective comparison of unrelated European datasets suggesting that high national rates of COVID-19 vaccination led to high excess mortality rates is false and misleading. It is not possible to draw any valid conclusion based on a single factor, such as…

Is there evidence that Ukrainian children were taken away from their parents in Europe? No, that's not true: In Bulgaria, there is a widespread belief in claims of mass abduction of children from their parents in EU countries. However, these claims lack substantial evidence. This theme aligns with the broader Russian narrative portraying the West as an adversary of the…

Does a picture, published on social media, show the Bulgarian flag being burned in Kyiv, Ukraine, during protests in 2015? No, that's not true: The misleading information is based on a photo taken in North Macedonia in 2021, not in Ukraine in 2015, as several videos sharing it claim. The original photo was taken in Vevchani, Republic of North Macedonia,…

Has former boxing champion Mike Tyson expressed his solidarity with Russia by wearing a tracksuit that had the word "Russia" printed on it? No, that's not true: The photos of Tyson wearing the Russian Olympic team tracksuit were taken in 2005 and are not related to the current conflict in Ukraine. The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here)…

Did the European Union (EU) authorize the use of food ingredients from insects that are carcinogenic? No, that's not true. The claim that powdered insect chitin causes cancer and other diseases is false. The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on March 7, 2023, under the title, translated from Bulgarian to English by Lead Stories staff, "Dried…

Does the number of unemployed migrants that use social benefits, admitted to the EU under former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, cause increased levels of youth unemployment in some EU countries? No, that's not true: Official EU documents, as well as Eurostat's statistical research clearly show no correlation between the number of migrants admitted, levels of financial assistance, and youth unemployment…

Did Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán say that Bulgarian politicians received a billion euros to get the country into a war with Russia? No, that's not true: Websites and social media platforms in Bulgaria are spreading this falsified speech attributed to Orbán without verifying its authenticity. Both CNN and Viktor Orbán's press office refuted any claims of him having issued…