Stretching for over 12 km, the sand ribbon by the Black Sea between Shkorpilovtsi to the south and Kamchiya to the north is a quiet spot blessed with clean sand, pristine sea and a thick longoz forest abuzz with wildlife, including the region's notorious mosquitoes. Many Bulgarians go to Kamchiya beach in summer, as it never gets crowded and accommodation is cheap. You can choose between rundown bungalows built under Communism or free camping. Construction in the area is prohibited, as a significant part of it belongs to a nature reserve.

And still, in this pristine spot by the Black Sea sits a large compound. It has everything one expects from a luxury resort, and more: hotels, restaurants, pools, congress venues, a school, sports and culture facilities, an open-air theatre. It even has a "space centre" with a planetarium! The compound is covered in lush greenery; a forbidding fence guards the premises from outsiders.

Overdevelopment along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, including in nature protected areas, is not a new thing. But Kamchiya Health and Wellness Resort stands out – with its size, nearing 74 acres, and the fact that it does not belong to a Bulgarian investor. The plot of land as well as the compound belong to… Moscow City Council.

Clean sea, splendid beaches, lush greenery, luxury accommodation, and entertainment: the resort has everything one could want from a summer holiday

Yes, that is correct. A large plot of top property in a protected natural area is owned by a state agency of a foreign country that has billed Bulgaria an "enemy state."

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the idea of Kamchiya Health and Wellness Resort started to take shape, the Bulgarian Constitution banned aliens from owning land in Bulgaria. Of course, there was a legal loophole that actually allowed foreign citizens to do just that. They just had to open a company in Bulgaria and use it as a front to buy the land they wanted. The case with the Kamchiya compound, however, went far beyond anything else seen at the time. A couple of front companies, owned not just by any individual, but by the Moscow City Council, started buying en masse properties in Kamchiya from the now defunct Balkantourist, the behemoth that ran and managed most of Bulgaria's tourist facilities under Communism. Then, the front companies bought more plots in the area, thus consolidating a very nice spot by the sea.

One might expect that the Bulgarian government eventually became aware of these activities and did something to stop them. The Bulgarian government did know. But it did nothing to stop it. Instead, it actively helped. It sold the land cheaply. In 2008 the then Prime Minister, BSP's Sergey Stanishev, signed an agreement between Bulgaria and Moscow City Council for the building of the future Resort. His government also covered the cost for the construction of its water supply and sewage infrastructure. In 2010, the newly elected prime minister Boyko Borisov of GERB, cut the ribbon of the compound, together with the then mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov.

Officially, the Moscow City Council used the resort as a part of its social policies – to provide holidays to children, single mothers and war veterans year-round. However, Kamchiya Health and Wellness Resort was also a tool of Russia's soft power – as a venue for a number of events targeting Bulgarian audiences, including conferences and other events featuring pro-Russian politicians and public officials.

A monument at the River Kamchiya estuary marks the spot whence Bulgarian Communists were transported by submarines from the Soviet Union, in 1941, to start the resistance against the pro-Nazi government 

For the first decade of its activities, the Bulgarians living near Kamchiya were happy with what they dubbed the "Russian Complex." They got jobs and the resort became the biggest taxpayer in Avren Municipality.

However, in 2019 things turned sour. As the Moscow City Council cut down on its social programmes, children and war veterans stopped holidaying in Kamchiya. The resort ceased paying its local taxes. There were official talks of transferring the Kamchiya property to the Russian government. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov openly spoke about the project's uniqueness as a soft power tool in Bulgaria.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The compound tried to restart its operations. In 2021 its CEO – a Bulgarian – announced ambitious plans for turning Kamchiya Resort into an innovative city of the future with a business incubator, a school for influencers and an academy for bloggers and vloggers. Putin's unprovoked war on Ukraine in 2022 put an end to these plans. Bulgaria supported Ukraine; Russia declared that Bulgaria was a foe. Kamchiya Resort shut down. It remains closed to this day.

What is going to happen now? In the spring of 2025, the Bulgarian government stated that the Russia-owned compound was considered "a national security threat," but did nothing of substance. In June, a journalistic investigation alleged that the Russian government was trying to transfer the ownership of the compound to avoid its confiscation. Will the Bulgarian government find an effective way to restore its ownership of the land? Is it actually eager to do something? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, Bulgarians continue to sunbathe on Kamchiya's pristine beach. Some of the locals are even sorry that the Russians – and the jobs they created – are no longer here.