Eurasia Press & News
Bulgaria: Government quits in the wake of demonstrations against the budget
The publication of a draft national budget for 2026, proposing an income tax increase, prompted thousands of Bulgarians, mostly young, to take to the streets of the capital, Sofia, and over 30 towns and cities across the country on almost 100 occasions in December. The protests remained predominantly peaceful, although an isolated group of masked demonstrators split from the protest to target a former office of the governing Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party — presumably an expendable target — and to clash with police outside the headquarters of GERB’s partner, the New Beginning party, in Sofia on 1 December. Besides condemning the tax hikes to fund wage raises in the public sector, the demonstrators also demanded the resignation of the current government coalition due to oligarch Delyan Peevski’s strong influence in Bulgarian politics and the economy, as well as the prosecutor’s office’s poor performance in tackling high-profile corruption.
Other demonstration groups competed for public attention with the anti-government protests. On 9 December, pro-government protesters mobilized in 24 locations to defend the stability of the government, while nationalist groups continued their rallies against the adoption of the euro as the national currency, albeit on a smaller scale than in May and June when anti-euro protests peaked. Anticipating a no-confidence vote in parliament, Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov submitted the resignation of his cabinet on 11 December, citing the “civic energy” and large array of voices calling for a cabinet reshuffle.1 The demonstrations, however, continued, as protesters insisted on a government without incumbent parties and — more especially — a government without Peevski and former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who leads the GERB party, though currently only serves as a member of parliament. Both are seen as the faces of a political structure that has kept a tight grip on Bulgaria’s state finances and economy.
The protesters also demanded a new round of snap parliamentary elections, with emphasis on greater transparency and fairness in the voting process. If held, these elections would be the eighth round of elections since 2021 in a country marred by polarization and entrenched high-level corruption.
Europe: Farmers protest corruption, the cost of doing business, and free trade
Discontent over sanitary measures, the European Union-Mercosur trade agreement, and EU agricultural subsidies fueled mobilization among European farmers in December, including during the Christmas holidays. ACLED records more than 1,100 farmer-led demonstrations in December, over half occurring in Greece and a third in France.
Greek farmers took to the streets due to a delay in the disbursement of EU subsidies in the wake of allegations that state employees assisted farmers in faking land ownership to obtain EU subsidies.2 Despite initial pushback from the state forces, who tried to prevent the farmers from blocking roads and clashed with them several times, the demonstrations persisted throughout the month. Roadblocks initially targeted key infrastructure points, such as ports, airports, and highways, but later expanded to side roads. Severe disruptions occurred at border crossings and other critical transport infrastructure during the holiday tourism season, with some hoteliers reporting that occupancy rates dropped by half.3
In France, agricultural unions staged hundreds of roadblocks with tractors, mostly in the southwest, to oppose the mass culling of cows in cases of lumpy skin disease. Moreover, ahead of the planned ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement on 19 December, European farmers expressed concerns about unfair competition with their South American counterparts. On 18 December, thousands demonstrated in Brussels, clashing with police, igniting fires in the European quarter, and disrupting traffic with their tractors.
Concerns over the EU-Mercosur agreement also led to extensive demonstrations in Poland and, to a lesser extent, in Germany and Spain. Polish farmers rallied in over 90 locations in December to express their opposition to the EU-Mercosur agreement, citing risks of price dumping and decreased support for national agriculture. Polish farmers previously protested against Ukrainian grain imports and transit via the EU in 2023 and 2024. Together with the governments of Italy and France, Warsaw has threatened to veto the EU-Mercosur agreement, leading to the deferral of EU approval until 9 January.4
In an attempt to reach the required majority of EU states to pass the EU-Mercosur agreement, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed to grant 45 billion euros in agricultural subsidies immediately.5 While Italy eventually endorsed the deal, the French government claimed that it remained “unacceptable” and demanded additional financial support for farmers, with the latter threatening to escalate their actions should the trade agreement be implemented.6
Russia: Ukraine expands its oil-targeting campaign to the Caspian Sea
Ukraine expanded its drone targeting of Russian oil and gas infrastructure to the Caspian Sea in December, after already extending the campaign to oil tankers and ports on the Black Sea in November. Between 11 and 19 December, Ukrainian drones repeatedly hit two offshore oil and gas rigs in the western part of the Caspian Sea, leading to a halt in operations at one. Furthermore, Ukrainian drones struck two ships carrying munitions and military equipment across the Caspian Sea, as well as a patrol boat. A Russian partisan movement, Chernaya Iskra (the Black Spark), provided intelligence for strikes on moving targets.7
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones — both aerial and naval — maintained pressure on Russia’s Black Sea shore, mostly affecting ports in the Krasnodar Krai and Rostov regions. In the latter, a drone strike set a stationary oil tanker ablaze and left two crewmates dead and three others injured. The end-of-the-year strikes marked a change from Ukraine’s targeting of oil holding and processing facilities across European Russia throughout 2025 to hindering the country’s ability to export both its oil and gas by sea amid dwindling revenue.8 As a result, vessels sailing from Russia have reportedly avoided crossing the Black Sea, hugging the Turkish coast instead,9 in a move mirroring Ukraine’s response to Russia’s targeting of Ukrainian sea exports since 2023.10
In December, Russian forces captured 33 frontline settlements in Ukraine — a slight increase on par with the number last seen in January 2025, but consistent with the pace of advance on settlements seen in October and November. Over half of the occupations occurred in the Donetsk region. However, Ukrainian forces denied Russian forces the complete capture of Pokrovsk — the primary target of Russia’s offensive in 2025. Nevertheless, Russian forces managed to relatively swiftly ease out Ukrainian defenders from Siversk to the east of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk — an urban agglomeration they are likely to focus on in 2026 in order to seize the quarter of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control.
While Ukrainian forces successfully counter-attacked and encircled Russian troops in Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, they faced a breakdown of defenses in and around Huliaipole in the Zaporizhia region, as well as a deterioration of their posture in the Sumy region, where Russian forces captured a border village and abducted about 50 remaining civilians.11
Ukraine’s Odesa region bore the brunt of Russia’s long-range strikes on energy, transportation, and port infrastructure in December, likely in retaliation for Ukraine’s targeting of Russian oil and gas assets on the Black and Caspian Seas (see above). Russian drones and missiles knocked out power, water, and heating supply for much of the region, including in the million-strong city of Odesa, in mid-December. Services took days to restore. Russian drones and a ballistic missile also hit a vehicle bridge near the village of Maiaky in the southwestern part of the region, seeking to cut it off from one of the routes to Moldova and Romania. The strikes killed a mother of three driving through the bridge in the process.
Other drone, missile, and glide bomb strikes hit seaports and at least seven civilian vessels, as well as warehouses and a sunflower oil production site. A ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions hit Pivdennyi port on 19 December, killing eight civilians and wounding 30 others, mostly truckers. Russia carried out similar strikes on energy and port infrastructure in the neighboring region of Mykolaiv at the end of the month.
As Ukraine faces a renewed United States push to achieve a quick end to the war, the EU took a last-minute decision to lend Kyiv €90 billion for 2026 and 2027, after failing to agree on using Russia’s assets that were frozen in the bloc in the wake of the invasion.12 Moscow’s response to negotiations has been dismissive,13 as it is likely betting on occupying the remainder of the Donetsk region to dictate settlement terms or push further inland.
