synoptic meeting, we will start with such a beautiful topic as baroque. what is the weather here? well, the thing is that baroque is very beautiful, and what can the weather be in ukraine, as ugly, despite the fact that it is sometimes grumbled about, but look around and understand what a treasure the temperate continental climate is. but so we return to baroque. this is a trend in european art and architecture of the 17th century, the culmination of which fell on the 17th century, when it spread almost everywhere in europe, uh, and embodies baroque, these are interesting forms, combined with elegance, beauty, splendor and decoration. such masters as caravaggio, rubens and rembrandt wrote in the baroque style. in architecture, the most famous buildings are st. peter's square in rome, the palace of versailles in france and our st. sophia cathedral in kyiv. when did baroque actually appear in ukraine?

the church of peter and paul in lviv was built by the italian architect giacomo obriano in 1610-30, and one of the first examples of the new ukrainian style can be considered the yelinskaya the church in subotov was built by order of bohdan khmelnytsky, and of course the famous cult style is mazepa baroque, that is, baroque buildings, we can admire them thanks to mazepa, who invested a lot of money in this. heart, soul, mind and hands, and also such famous architects of the kazuad baroque, such a famous phenomenon as ivan zarudny, osip startsev, ivan grigorovich barsky. and the mazepa baroque covered almost the entire hitman region, kyiv, baturyn, chernihiv, other cities. i i'll say it very quickly, here are just the famous churches that you all know for sure, these are not just churches anymore, these are our masterpieces, the andrew's church, the vydobod monastery, the sophia cathedral. uh

, the trinity cathedral in chernihiv in kozelka , the church of the nativity of the virgin, the trinity cathedral in novomoskovskaya, the linskaya church on saturday, and many, many, many more, this list can be continued, and i want to say, unbecomingly, that baroque is in everything, and ukrainian baroque is beautiful, and of course you know, such names, like deletsky, berezovsky, these are our baroque composers, we are moving from such... to magnetic storms, and i want to say that strong magnetic storms have finally stopped and moderate fluctuations will be observed, so here we are simply observing and actually moving to behavior, to the behavior of the already synoptic atmospheric, so on june 28 in the west of ukraine there will be a pause, a dry pause without precipitation, the air temperature is moderate 22-27, in transcarpathia up to +28-29°.

in the north in places rain thunderstorms fresh +19 +23° in the east will pass tomorrow short-term heavy rains 26-28, that is , well, warmer than in the north, that's for sure. in the central part of ukraine, there will be rain, thunderstorms, local precipitation will be 22-27 above zero. in the southern part , short-term rains will pass in places, thunderstorms will thunder 26-29° heat. and in kyiv on june 28, rain, thunderstorms in places, there is a possibility, the air temperature is low, and i want to say on the occasion that after today 's short-term windy respite, and on saturday and sunday , strong winds will resume throughout ukraine wind, sometimes even to storm gusts of up to 15-20 m/s, that is, there will be no heat, there will be wind and such a moderate, comfortable, i would even say air temperature, and returning to our topic of baroque, i want to say: i mentioned

ukrainian baroque authors, composers, and in general , our entire ukraine is saturated with this beauty, we are not lagging behind here at all and can absolutely authoritatively declare that we belong to the european baroque, one of the most beautiful in fact, and on the occasion, taking this opportunity, i want to invite you to the premiere of the opera, which was staged by our amateur choir bach, in which i... and this is an opera, it is such a great-grandmother of modern operas, this is the baroque opera king arthur purcell in the small opera on lukyanivka, well, today it is obvious that you don't have time, we are talking to you now, but tomorrow, saturday , there will still be an opportunity, be sure to come and see for yourself what a treasure it is, what a beauty it is, baroque music and not only baroque music, which is very abundant in architecture and music and everything beautiful in ukraine, carefully follow the development synoptic and only synoptic

events on the espresso channel. good evening, we are from ukraine. welcome, in the studio yevgeny magda, this means that we will talk to you about world politics, it throws up new and new topics for us, but still it is summer, and therefore we are trying to look for those directions and those countries that may interest viewers, who are still planning a vacation even in the current difficult conditions, and therefore we will talk today first of all about bulgaria, where the economy and politics are very closely intertwined on the issue of introducing the euro from january 1, 2026. this, as it turns out, is not only an economic and financial step, but also a political step.

more details in the story of my colleagues. bulgaria is preparing to switch to the euro. from january 1, 2026 , the country may become... the 21st member of the so-called eurozone. the european commission has already confirmed sofia's readiness and noted: bulgaria meets the key convergence criteria, and its economy is stable enough for monetary integration. however, at the domestic level, the prospect of switching to a single the european union's currency is causing heated controversy: the country is engulfed in mass protests. on may 31 alone, about 100,000 people took to the streets. the center of the resistance has become the opposition revival movement, whose rhetoric ranges from defending the national currency to conspiracy theories about alleged eurozone debts. this movement has close ties to pro-russian forces, in particular the united russia party, and is actively spreading

disinformation, appealing to citizens' fears of inflation and impoverishment. these fears are not entirely unfounded. economists suggest that the introduction of the euro in bulgaria could indeed cause... a one-time increase in prices, which would hit the middle class and residents of rural areas hardest. however, the experience of other eastern european countries shows that after the initial stress , trade increases, financial stability improves, and the economy adapts to european standards. at the same time , the eurobarometer survey records deep social polarization. 50% of bulgarians are against the transition to the euro, 43% support it. that's it. the country's president has announced his readiness to hold referendum, although the constitutional court has already ruled this impossible given the country's basic law. currently, bulgaria remains one of the poorest eu countries with a high level of corruption. the euro itself, in an optimistic scenario

, could become a catalyst for structural reforms, but under the current conditions of political instability and information pressure, the path to the eurozone for sofia will be difficult. the situation is indeed extremely interesting and we invited volodymyr nazariy gavrish, an expert from the foreign policy council ukrainian prism help us understand this situation. mr. volodymyr nazariy, i welcome you. thank you for agreeing to join us, and i will immediately ask the first question. here is the decision of the european commission and the european central bank to approve bulgaria's accession to the eurozone from january 1 , 2026. is this more of a political decision, or the consequences of economic transformations within this country? thank you for inviting me, good afternoon, i will say right away that it makes no sense for the european central bank to somehow manipulate the numbers specifically so that the country with a population of six was able to join

the eurozone a little faster than bulgaria could have been actively working to get into the eurozone since the late 2010s, it tried to stabilize its own economy. the biggest problems during this period were covid and the war in ukraine, but the country was able to overcome these short periods of, let's say, inflationary instability. if you look at the periods from 21 to 24, these are the governments of kirill pitkov, nikolay dinkov. the government was able to increase profitability about 3 billion leva, that's 1.5 billion euros, and in parallel with this they were able to keep the economic deficit within approximately 3-2 billion leva per year, that's 1.5 billion euros. the last government of dimitar glavchev and the current government of rusen zhelyaskov basically continued this policy of successful with such cautious spending and

increasing revenues to the economy, which allowed them to find themselves in the situation where they are. there were certain scandals, of course, i'm not saying that there weren't any, there was a company. for example, which one, with which they signed contract, which stole a lot of money because of this, but at the same time on the financial front and on the diplomatic front, government officials are actively working to keep the bulgarian economy stable, and the nzs is working to ensure that the fellow countries, partner countries of the european union, strengthen bulgaria's diplomatic positions when it is put to a vote in such an interesting historical excursion, but let's go back to recent history, because over the past five years , seven parliamentary campaigns have taken place in bulgaria, it's just record record political turbulence and... it comes from the reports from bulgaria that the introduction of the euro could become

a catalyst for political tension, am i wrong? at least now from my observations, the government will not fall apart just like that. there is a certain tacit agreement with the opposition party ppdb, it is euro-atlantic, liberal, according to which the ppdb will postpone most of its opposition activities until july 9, when all the votes will take place within the european parliament and the council of the european union, after this date instability may appear, but it can only come from two parties, these are the gerb party, sds and the dps party. and the dps party, by the way, is simply unique in that its leader is the oligarch delyan peevsky, who likes to change, to change his position on the fly, so all this can be expected, but small parties, such as itn, they will not be against continuing their activities in the government, they control the necessary

ministries, they have a certain political influence on domestic and foreign politics of bulgaria, and they will be tired of the government just falling apart. in parallel with this, the bulgarian people are quite tired of constant elections, and the zhelyaskov government currently has a certain carte blanche, according to which, if they continue stable growth, progress. reforms, they will not make any silesian statements or actions, everything will be fine with them, i apologize, the zhelyaskov government is still a coalition, well, in bulgaria there is a tradition of creating coalition governments, so how likely is it that his will be, well , it doesn't matter in principle if it will be undermined after the necessary decisions are made in brussels, internally. i doubt it for now, i think they will be stable, they have good

trust ratings, compared to other governments of previous years, and they have a fairly adequate political platform, they cooperate, everything is fine with them so far, then i would like to touch on another political actor, namely president rumen radiv, he is already entering the finish line of his second presidential term, and obviously he will look for opportunities to... well, he's a fighter pilot, so that he doesn't, don't go into a tailspin, on the contrary, get into some kind of strike position, and he doesn't make the fight for the lion his, well, i would say, political program, this is one of the hypotheses that analysts of bulgaria, the domestic politics of bulgaria, are considering, everyone agrees that rumen radev will not just leave politics, most likely he will... after the end of his presidential term, it will happen at the end of next year, just yes, he will create his own

political party, which will have a pro-russian tendency, but the leader will be clearly only him, so he will have a problem with competition, he already has the renaissance party, which is based entirely on a pro-russian position, and in the government, in the parliament, i apologize, in the parliament there are also the mech, velech and partly bsp parties, which also build their position on pro-russianness. there will be serious competition in rumen radio, i do not think that the pro-russian parties will just let him pass. in parallel with this, the european parliament, well, the european parties will also fight against him, the parties that are currently present in the european parliament, just like in such pro-european groups, they will definitely cooperate so as not to... miss romen radiev's big victory in the elections. but in any case, there is such

an interesting trend that pro-russian forces are becoming more active. according to my observations, by the way, in this sense bulgaria resembles ukraine, well, let's say, ten years ago, where, pro-russian and pro-european the forces had approximately equal positions, and there was a fairly large, let's say, non-party gap between them. in this case, we will use such a political science term, and doesn't it seem to you that the idea of ​​introducing the euro is perceived by pro-russian forces as a need to give the last battle to those, well, how to say, damned europeans, here in this case of course in quotes, as historical practice shows, pro-european parties do not die due to the adoption of the euro, we see this perfectly on the example of the alternative for germany party, afd, which are still alive, germany has had the euro for a long time,

and they are still alive, and they have quite adequate indicators, first there was the euro, and then it appeared. so , they will survive, they will not die simply because the euro is adopted, but it will be much more difficult for them to turn bulgaria in the other direction, the euro as a currency, it cements any country that has adopted it into the european union, and if they try to leave the eurozone, it will be very painful for both the political capital of these parties, and for the temporary or even long-term. period for the economy, if they somehow come to power, there are parties that really want, there are pro-russian parties that want to turn towards russia and china, this is a revival directly, but there are parties that are more moderate in this regard, which either want the status quo or are not against continuing european integration, such as the bsp party. by the way, you mentioned china, and

china is generally conducting quite active expansion in the territory of the european union, and what is its position in bulgaria? literally there was a summit recently, i don't remember exactly where, but deputy prime minister atanas zafirov went to it, it took place in china, they talked with representatives of the communist party of china, they talked there with the governors of some provinces. currently, there is a rapprochement, a certain rapprochement between bulgaria and china, they promise to open a direct air connection sofia very soon. beijing, however, this cooperation, it is quite cautious, there we are not talking about any allied relations, it is rather pragmatic, pragmatic relations, partnership, it is stereotypically believed that bulgarians, well, just have some sentiment towards russia, and russia, especially putin's russia,

actively uses this, i would like to ask your opinion about eleonora mitrofanova. who represents the russian federation in bulgaria is, well, such, i would not say sinister, but quite a controversial figure. mitrofanova, the sister of the ex-mp from the ldpr party, alexei mitrofanova, who is now hiding in croatia, she is a fairly influential person in the russian foreign ministry and in principle in such foreign russian policy, and it is influential among the pro-russian parties in bulgaria, but it is not all... we saw this when the elections were held in the bsp party, it was in february, in february 25, just such, where it tried to support the conservative pro-russian politician borislav gutsanov. borislav gutsanov lost the elections to a moderate pro-european opponent , tanas zafirov,

who, although not very pro-ukrainian, is definitely more moderate in his views than most. of the other leaders bsp. so mitrofanova is currently trying to help pro-russian parties, of course, i don't have all the information about where she is passing on what to whom, but it can be said with certainty that the protests of pro-russian forces have at least some support from the kremlin. and finally, i will ask a simple, i would say, practical question: should our citizens who are going to rest in bulgaria take euros or... still be satisfied with leva, at least as potential souvenirs, now bulgaria is expecting exactly this decision of these european union bodies, it will be the beginning of july, after that, if all goes well, from july-august they will start introducing dual price tags, that is, it will be possible to pay both in euros and leva,

leva will be a legal tender until the end of january 26, and even then they will be able to be exchanged for... for euros, there will be an exchange rate, one €1 for 1.95 leva, that's why i recommend paying by card, but if you want to have paper money specifically, then take the currency that is best converted to the ukrainian hryvnia. thank you to you, mr. volodymyr nazariy, for an interesting story with such financial implications, i sincerely thank you, i will remind you that the experts... on the issue of introducing the euro in bulgaria from january 1, 2026 , there was volodymyr nazarriy havrish, an expert at the foreign policy council ukrainian prism. the world has changed, real war has merged with hybrid war, fakes are changing reality, this is just ordinary senseless

propaganda, like in soviet times. vitaliy portnikov and andriy smolii in the saturday political club consider the main events of the week through the prism of critical thinking. only those who are ready to defend themselves will survive here. do not let yourself be manipulated, follow the events of the present to understand the future, together with the project saturdays. political club every saturday on espresso. a journalist who joined the armed forces of ukraine, a political expert who became a special forces officer. taras berezovyts in a new project on espresso. the real front is a thorough analysis of the main events. reports, comments from leading specialists and experts. analytics from the major of the armed forces. how to understand disturbing news and distinguish the truth from the enemy ipso. the real front program with taras berezovets every saturday. 21:30 on espresso.

indeed, the situation in the country, which for a long time was considered one of the centers of such, well, almost monopolistic russian influence, is significantly changing in the other direction. and we will try to analyze. what is happening in foggy albion, because there are really interesting events there, and at the moment, i would say that contacts between ukraine and great britain are becoming more specific, and the question is, of course, not only that ukraine has recently time is represented in the british isles by valery zaluzhny, there are other aspects that my colleagues talk about in the story. strongly strengthens the status of one of ukraine's key strategic allies in the world. the agreement on a historic

partnership between kyiv and london, signed on january 16 of this year , became significant not only in terms of its duration, but also in terms of its content. it covers 14 chapters that formalize cooperation in the areas of defense, security, energy, economy, cyber defense and justice. the document also provides for direct support ukraine's irreversible path to nato, this is one of the most outspoken positions among western allies. in practical terms, the partnership is already yielding results: in 2025 alone , britain is allocating £4.5 billion in military aid, including the transfer of 100,000 drones to ukraine by april 2026 , and another $3 billion from the profits of frozen russian assets, which will be used to purchase weapons, repair equipment, and implement joint projects between ukrainian and international defense companies. such a flexible model of assistance with a focus on cooperation indicates britain's intention

to support not only ukraine's defense, but also to strengthen its defense industry. at the same time, london is actively advocating for russia's legal responsibility. british foreign secretary david lammy has openly supported the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression. britain even emphasizes that after the end of hostilities, support for ukraine will not stop in the military, economic, or humanitarian spheres. in the global in the context of the great breeze, london is building new formats for interaction with european capitals, and one of these steps was the signing of an agreement with the eu on a new partnership in the field of security and defense. britain is also launching large-scale rearmament, construction of new factories, ammunition, creation of a hybrid fleet, investments in nuclear. program and social protection of the military. against this background, london sees kyiv not only as a partner in deterring russia, but also as an important player in the new european

security system. indeed, britain is playing an increasingly active role, and after brexit , london seemed to feel its own importance and status as a permanent member of the un security council and the presence of a nuclear status. we invited andriy today. the wife of a professor at the western ukrainian national university, to discuss the situation that has developed on the british isles. mr. andriy, i congratulate you, thank you for agreeing to talk to us, and i will ask a question about, in my opinion, a rather revealing meeting, because recently nobel laureate oleksandra matviychuk had an audience with king charles ii. how do you assess this meeting, which may not have lasted that long, but well... in such meetings with monarchs there is always a subtext, congratulations to you, mr. yevgeny,

of course, that every meeting that takes place in... with the monarch, of great britain, of the united kingdom, whether with the late elizabeth, or with her successor, son charles. this is a meeting, first of all, deeply symbolic, and a meeting that signals a lot, not only for great britain or, in fact, the party that meets with the british monarch, it signals. symbolic for the international community, but because everyone always wants to meet the british monarch in one way or another, because you know, as i would say, it's a kind of quality mark, let's say, that there is a certain reward for merit and, let's say, an advance for the future so that this subject, whether it's international relations or politics or the humanitarian sphere, actually has success in its further activities, in this case, of course, that the organization

that was... represented by its head, yes she is a nobel laureate, there is no doubt that the relevance of such a meeting is obvious, and of course , this is a serious step, which is designed to further expand the international influence of this organization, in particular to attract donors, probably patrons, and of course, the issue raised by this organization is, first of all , the protection of the interests of ukrainians, the investigation of crimes... let's return to a more official chronicle and note the position of keir starmer, because the british prime minister is one of the leaders of the coalition of the willing, in any case, not so long ago we saw him in kyiv. as important as this role is for him, because it was london that was

the place where the first meeting of this informal association took place in early march, for keir starmer himself , these are quite difficult times, because the uk, especially with the coming to power of donald trump in the usa, and the aggravation of problems of an international nature, international security, the situation in the foreign policy arena is ambiguous for it. and for the labour government itself, it is ambiguous situation, that's because in essence, well, by and large , there's nothing to brag about, actually, but here too, the ukrainian factor, of course, which, as you've already said, has been playing a fairly important role in great britain's foreign policy for three or four years, is that direction, that means, let's say, of expanding global influence, as

the leadership itself stated after brexit. in great britain, first the conservatives, now it's the labour party, in order to expand the influence of great britain, i would say that the situation in ukraine and around the ukrainian problem, the war in ukraine, and this is a situation that returns great britain to major european politics, after those several years of crisis that britain's relations had, not only with brussels, but with berlin, with paris, certain frictions with... a moment for cyrus there are enough alarm bells for today's starmer, because 61% of britons are not satisfied with his activities as prime minister. do you think why labour, like which came to power in july 2024 after a ten-year absence from government offices, well, i mean the government offices, they never managed to, well, let's say,

dispose of this victory, here there is primarily an internal political choice, because the dimension of this problem, because the main trump cards are traditionally the labor party, and once it was a socialist party, quite radical, now it is a social democratic political force, their main trump cards, of course in internal politics it is social policy. unfortunately, such issues as tax cuts, how to solve the reduction in the number of jobs, and i remind you that after brexit , great britain lost over 2 million jobs, and this is a solution to the problem of, for example, certain sectors of the economy, such as fisheries, agricultural policy, and trade relations with the european union.