"Now I see Russian flags all over the hall!" Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova talks about the European Championship

Eleonora Mitrofanova, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Bulgaria, spoke about how the arrival of our fans and athletes to the European Championships in Varna was organized:

"There are mainly Russian and Bulgarian flags, which is natural. I am extremely pleased, because, firstly, in those days when there were no our fans, our compatriots were rooting here. They are still here. And now I see Russian flags at all ends of the hall. Therefore, of course, I am happy. Here and the ones from Kursk, and from Bryansk Regions, from Kazan. In general, we are glad that these children and young people managed to come here. How can you not help? These children are actually located in such a region. I wanted to do something good for them. Naturally, we have such opportunities. We mobilized everything and sent it here to meet them and somewhat help them in general."

She assessed the gymnasts' performances:

"In rhythmic gymnastics, we have always been the strongest and we, I think, will continue to maintain this level. But you always need to understand that you are the strongest, of course, in competitions with others. And here are very strong teams. That's why there is such a worthy rivalry here. I liked our gymnasts very much. I would say they are very strong. And I really liked, of course, Bulgarian gymnast Stiliana Nikolova. After all, rhythmic gymnastics is a mixture of sports, ballet or the emotionality of a certain aesthetic series and music. And I think that Stiliana Nikolova's selection was simply amazing. But also with our girls. Our girls are wonderful. And they entered the top ten."

Eleonora Valentinovna thanked the Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow, whose prompt work enabled fans from Russia to attend the tournament in Varna:

"I would like to thank the Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow for promptly, beyond any deadlines, organizing visas for our athletes and fans. Because I think they did almost the impossible. Of course, we contributed with all our might. Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our Consular Section, I repeat, must give credit to the Bulgarian Embassy there. They were very understanding about this issue, because getting 200 or so visas in a few days is a story. The bus is a different story, because if they had flown here to Sofia, it wouldn't have been necessary. But since there were no tickets left to Sofia, these ones were to Istanbul. I would also like to thank my colleagues in Istanbul, the Consulate in Istanbul. Because they took them to the border on their bus, we picked them up from the border and took them to Varna. That is, there was a whole operation."

The Sky Grace International Association expresses its heartfelt gratitude to Eleonora for her assistance in obtaining visas and organizing transportation for fans and the National team athletes.