Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the Russian Embassy in Sofia to show their discontent with the detention of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“Alexei Navalny’s arrest was a brutal blow to democracy and a slap in the face to the Putin regime.Truth is Navalny’s only weapon, but people are arrested in Russia for telling the truth", participants at the protest said. The demonstration was organized by the Russian opposition activist Evgeny Chupov who sought political asylum in Bulgaria.
More than 120 Russian nationals protested in front of the General Consulate of the Russian Federation in Varna.
"We condemn the arrests of peacefully demonstrating supporers of Alexei Navalny across Russia and call for their immediate release. The freedom of peaceful protest must be respected”, Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva wrote on Twitter on the occasion of the arrests of Alexei Navalny's supporters during the mass protests in Russia.