Russian MP Candidate: We Will Buy the Entire Bulgaria

A man holds his ballot paper as he votes at a polling station in a local school in Moscow, Russia, September 18, 2016. EPA/BGNES

A lawmaker running on ruling United Russia party's ticket in the Sunday elections has said Russia will buy out the entire Bulgarian state.

"Of course," Pyotr Tolstoy has told the Bulgarian National Television after voting, in a response to the reporter's wish that he should pursue a "benevolent" policy toward Bulgaria if he makes it into Parliament.

"We will just buy out the entire [Bulgaria]. Half of its coastline we have already purchased," he has said.

No reaction from either the reporter or the news anchors (his comments were aired during a news bulletin) has followed suit.

Russian entrepreneurs and civil servants own properties along the Bulgarian Black Sea, while Russian visitors are a key component of Bulgaria's tourism industry.

A journalist by profession, Pyotr Tolstoy is one of the most recognized faces of state-run Pervy Kanal.

United Russia, which won the legislative elections by a landslide, is presided by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and strongly supports Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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