Belarusian Propagandists Will Be Taught to Combat Fakes with EU Money
Employees of Belarusian state media are invited to the capital of Bulgaria for the event "Artificial Intelligence and the Fight Against Fake News". The discussion is funded by the European Union.
Andrei Krivosheev and Snezhana Todorova sign an agreement on cooperation between journalistic unions of Belarus and Bulgaria. Photo: "Minsk-News"
The announcement of the event in Bulgarian Sofia was distributed by the "Minsk-News" agency. "The Union of Bulgarian Journalists invites representatives of the Belarusian Union of Journalists to take part in a discussion on the topic 'Artificial Intelligence and the Fight Against Fake News: what solution will be most effective?'" — it says, BAJ noted.
Who will teach regime propagandists to combat false news?
As BAJ learned, the event is attended by Snezhana Todorova, Chairperson of the Board of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists (UBJ), UBJ members, representatives of the pan-European portal Eualive.net and the EU4Debunk project Georgy Gotsev and Kalina Angelova. The venue in Sofia is provided by the UBJ.
The Union of Bulgarian Journalists is one of two journalistic organizations in Bulgaria that pointedly continues to cooperate with Belarusian and Russian official media.
UBJ head Snezhana Todorova has a reputation in her country as a supporter of Russia. She received the Order of Friendship from Vladimir Putin in September 2025, and often visits Russia and Belarus. As early as 2014, in an interview with the 'Stoletie' portal, Todorova stated that "the revival of fascism and the advance of Banderites frighten Bulgarians". Subsequently, judging by her appearances, her views have not changed.
At the same time, the website of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists wrote quite detailed reports about the Belarusian protests of 2020, and now reprints news about Andrzej Poczobut and other imprisoned Belarusian journalists.
Screenshot of the website of the Bulgarian Union of Journalists
According to Bulgarian investigative resources, in 2009, the Commission on Archives revealed information about Todorova's connections with the Sixth Directorate of the State Security Service for Combating Ideological Sabotage.
Todorova, according to Bulgarian media reports, operated under the pseudonym 'Violeta' in Soviet Bulgaria from 1988 until the change of state system. By the late 80s, Todorova headed the international department in the Union of Bulgarian Workers.
In addition to her leadership position in the UBJ, Snezhana Todorova also heads the Coordination Council 'Bulgaria — Russia' under 'Roscongress', a non-governmental Russian foundation, a classic 'soft power' organization.
With Whose Money is the Training in Sofia?
The pan-European portal Eualive.net, which was created in the spring of 2025 as part of the EU4Debunk project, is legally registered in Brussels. It is managed by Georgy Gotsev, a citizen of Belgium and Bulgaria, whose email is precisely indicated on the 'Minsk-News' website for registration for the anti-fake discussion.
"The mission of EUalive.net is to deepen public understanding of what is happening in the EU, member states, and candidate countries for a broad global audience. EUalive builds content partnerships with media, NGOs, and think tanks. We support a strong, united Europe while maintaining a critical attitude towards EU institutions. Our position regarding who is the aggressor in the war in Ukraine is absolutely clear," — states Eualive.net.
And the AI4Debunk project, within which Eualive.net operates and the conference in Sofia is held, "brings together an interdisciplinary consortium covering a wide range of disciplines — from sociologists and media specialists to software developers and experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning — with the aim of comprehensively studying the entire spectrum of disinformation processes."
The AI4Debunk consortium is led as coordinator by the University of Latvia in Riga.
The AI4Debunk website states that its activities are funded by the European Union, "however, the views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission; neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them".
According to BAJ data, 28 media representatives are currently behind bars in Belarus.
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"Беларускіх прапагандыстаў будуць вучыць барацьбе з фэйкамі за грошы ЕС"