The Financial Times: Russians find the good life in Bulgaria

Looking to escape the stress of Moscow? For middle-class Russians, Bulgaria has become a popular place to acquire a second home, reported The Financial Times.

“It’s a place where Russians feel welcome,” says Elena Ahmedanova, a journalism student at Moscow University, who was studying for exams at her parents’ home near Nessebar on the Black Sea coast. “There are similarities in language and the culture feels familiar.”

An estimated 400,000 Russians own properties in Bulgaria and an increasing number are becoming year-round residents, thanks to the easy availability of long-term residence permits, according to Mihail Chobanov, chief executive of Bulgarian Properties, a real estate agency.

“Russian construction companies, travel agencies and supermarkets have carved out market niches here,” Mr Chobanov said. “Some people even run businesses in Moscow from Bulgaria . . . They commute by plane every few weeks.”

An added benefit is that Bulgarian residency makes it easier to travel around the EU.

Leonid Kozlov, a fitness instructor, moved two years ago from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Pomorie, where a steady flow of Russians buying seaside apartments has increased the town’s official population by half.

“We have a more relaxed life,” Mr Kozlov said over tea in a café full of Russian-speakers. “I have work throughout the year, my wife has a job in the tourist season and our daughter goes to the Russian school here. We plan to stay permanently and set up our own business managing holiday homes.”

Sergei Gubov, an economist at a state-owned company in Russia’s far east, settled in Sofia with his family when he retired four years ago so that his son could study at Sofia University.

“We came mainly for my eldest son’s sake – he wants to become a neurosurgeon and work in the US or France,” Mr Gubov said. “Getting his degree at an EU university is a necessary first step.”

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