Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that acting prosecutor general Borislav Sarafov has been holding office unlawfully. A new Permanent Balkan Prosecutors’ Platform is being created following a regional forum in Sofia earlier this week, bringing together the chief prosecutors of several Balkan states at a time when Bulgaria’s own acting prosecutor general faces a legitimacy scandal.
The Fourth Forum of Chief Prosecutors of the Balkan States, hosted by Bulgaria’s acting chief prosecutor Borislav Sarafov, concluded with an agreement to institutionalise the regional format into a standing platform that will meet at least twice a year. The participants – top prosecutors from Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Slovenia, Kosovo, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, pledged to strengthen judicial cooperation, improve coordination with Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, and develop joint training and investigations in priority areas such as human trafficking, corruption, cybercrime, and environmental offences.
They also committed to enhancing cooperation in countering illegal migration, organised crime, and cryptocurrency-related fraud; updating and harmonising their legislation to reflect new forms of criminal activity; and exchanging information in real time to ensure security, stability, and justice across the Balkans.
The gathering in Sofia featured video remarks from European Commissioner for democracy, justice, the rule of law and consumer protection Michael McGrath. Eurojust President Michael Schmidt and Roel Dona, Secretary General of the International Association of Prosecutors were in Sofia for the event. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev also attended, alongside representatives of the Supreme Judicial Council and professional associations of prosecutors and investigators.
Participants in Sofia emphasised the need for greater Balkan judicial cooperation. Albanian chief prosecutor Olsian Çela, Slovenia’s Katarina Bergant, Turkey’s Muhsin Şentürk, and Kosovo’s acting prosecutor Besim Kelmendi all underscored the importance of coordinated efforts to combat cross-border criminal networks.
The establishment of the Permanent Balkan Prosecutors’ Platform is expected to formalise this cooperation and offer a framework for operational dialogue, information sharing, and joint investigations. Whether the new mechanism will translate into genuine judicial independence and transparency – particularly in countries where the prosecution remains politically influenced, remains an open question.
Domestic controversy over Sarafov
While the forum’s conclusions focus on transnational cooperation, its context in Bulgaria drew equal attention. The meeting came just days after the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that acting prosecutor general Borislav Sarafov has been holding office unlawfully. According to law amendments adopted earlier this year, his interim mandate was due to expire on 21 July, but Sarafov refused to step down, citing an internal decision of the Prosecutors’ College of the Supreme Judicial Council asserting that the law did not apply to him.
The legal standoff has deepened Bulgaria’s long-standing institutional crisis in the prosecution service – an issue closely monitored by Brussels under the EU’s rule of law mechanisms. Critics argue that Sarafov’s persistence undermines the principle of legality and exposes the fragility of Bulgaria’s judicial governance. According to Ekimdzhiev, the Supreme Court’s ruling that Sarafov lacks legitimacy makes his continued presence in office – and the government’s endorsement of it, a blatant disregard for the rule of law. “The law is clear,” he said, “no one can serve as acting prosecutor general for more than six months. Since 21 July, Mr Sarafov has been acting as a self-appointed official, unlawfully exercising powers he no longer possesses.” He compared Sarafov’s conduct to that of “bandits who put on police uniforms to carry out their crimes,” arguing that his actions place the entire prosecution service outside the law and turn it into “a diversionary group undermining the very foundations of legality.”
Dark origins of the gathering
The Balkan prosecutors’ forum itself has controversial origins. It was first established six years ago at the initiative of Bulgaria and Turkey, during the tenure of former chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov, another controversial figure. At the time, Tsatsarov maintained close ties with Ankara and held multiple meetings with his Turkish counterpart Mehmet Akarca. The initiative coincided with the height of Turkey’s post-coup purge under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during which Sofia assisted in the extradition of several Turkish nationals accused of links to the Gülen movement – in one case defying a Bulgarian court ruling that blocked the handover of businessman Abdullah Büyük. As Ukraine’s targeted drone campaign continues to cripple Russia’s oil refining infrastructure, Belarus has emerged as a critical supplier, quadrupling its gasoline exports to Moscow in September to alleviate acute domestic fuel shortages.
This surge underscores the tangible impact of Kyiv’s strategy to disrupt the Kremlin’s energy lifeline, which funds its war machine and sustains its economy, forcing Russia to lean on its closest ally for relief.
Ukraine’s escalating assault on Russia’s refining backbone
Since early 2024, Ukraine has mounted a relentless offensive against Russia’s energy sector, shifting from sporadic strikes to a sustained, coordinated barrage of long-range drones aimed at refineries, storage depots, and export terminals. The campaign, which intensified dramatically in August 2025, represents a “two-pronged” approach: choking off refined fuel supplies for the Russian military and civilian economy while slashing revenues from petroleum exports.
By targeting processing facilities deep inside Russia – some over 1,400 kilometers from the front lines – Kyiv seeks to exploit vulnerabilities in Moscow’s air defences and repair capabilities, hampered by Western sanctions that limit access to specialized equipment.
The results have been devastating. According to open-source analysis and Russian media reports, Ukraine struck at least 21 of Russia’s 38 major refineries between January and September 2025, surpassing the total hits for all of 2024 by 48%.
Facilities like the Salavat petrochemical complex in Bashkortostan, the Ryazan refinery near Moscow, and the Volgograd plant in the south have been repeatedly targeted, sparking massive fires and forcing partial or full shutdowns.
Reuters calculations estimate that these attacks disrupted up to 17% of Russia’s refining capacity—around 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd)—with some assessments putting offline capacity as high as 38% at peak disruption in September.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and General Staff have justified the strikes as essential to starving Russia’s war effort, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describing them as “the most effective sanctions” against the invaders.
Economists like Vladislav Inozemtsev have praised the tactic as “hitting the nail on the head,” noting that refineries are costlier and harder to replace than other targets like drone factories, given Russia’s isolation from global supply chains.
The U.S. has bolstered this effort by providing intelligence on deep-strike targets, including pipelines and power plants, further enabling Ukraine’s domestic drone production to overwhelm Russian defences.
Ripple effects: fuel rationing and economic strain in Russia
The strikes have triggered Russia’s worst fuel crisis in decades, manifesting in long queues at petrol stations, garage closures, and regional rationing – such as five-gallon limits in annexed Crimea.
At least 10 refineries have suspended operations since August, slashing national gasoline and diesel output by 6% in August and 18% in September, according to industry estimates.
Prices have spiked, with temporary freezes imposed in multiple regions, while diesel exports hit their lowest levels since 2020.
To stem the bleeding, Moscow extended its partial ban on gasoline exports through the end of 2025 and introduced curbs on diesel shipments, prioritizing domestic needs over lucrative sales to allies like India and China.
The shortages exacerbate inflation in transport, agriculture, and construction – sectors vital to Russia’s wartime economy – while straining the budget with subsidies and repairs that could widen the deficit.
Although crude oil exports remain largely unaffected, the refined products market – key for military logistics – has been thrown into disarray, with gasoline production data classified since May 2024 to mask the damage.
Belarus emerges as Russia’s emergency supplier
Enter Belarus, whose rail-transported gasoline exports to Russia surged fourfold month-on-month in September, reaching 49,000 metric tons (about 14,500 bpd), per industry sources cited by Reuters.
Diesel deliveries followed at 33,000 tons, providing a vital bridge as Russian refineries limp back online—or fail to.
This isn’t the first time: Moscow ramped up imports from Minsk in 2024 for similar reasons, and the trend accelerated amid the 2025 crisis.
Belarus’s two main refineries – Naftan and Mozyr – boast a combined annual capacity of 24 million tons (roughly 480,000 bpd), though they typically operate at about 9 million tons (180,000 bpd) due to feedstock constraints and maintenance.
Fed primarily by Russian crude via the Druzhba pipeline, these facilities have pivoted to prioritize Moscow’s needs, even as Belarus’s own transshipments through Russian ports for global exports dipped nearly 40% year-on-year to 1.17 million tons from January to September, reflecting reduced throughput.
Gasoline transit for re-export via Russian ports rose modestly by 1% to 140,000 tons in September, but the focus has clearly shifted inward.
Under a 2021 cooperation pact, Belarus has relied on Russian ports for transshipment since losing Baltic access due to sanctions, deepening the Minsk-Moscow energy symbiosis.
Yet, as Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service noted, Belarus treads carefully: while Russia pays under $1,000 per ton, higher prices from buyers in China, India, and Africa (up to $1,900 per ton) tempt diversion – though the Kremlin’s desperation has so far secured supplies.
For Russia, reliance on Belarus offers short-term respite but highlights systemic fragility. Minsk’s limited output – barely enough to plug a fraction of the gap – cannot sustain indefinite imports, especially if Ukrainian strikes extend to shared pipelines like Druzhba.