Russian strikes hit ships in Romanian and Bulgarian waters for first time

Fact-check index: 62/100 — The factual claims about the Black Sea strikes and Bulgaria's government stance are accurately sourced to Czech Television, but the legal/EEZ analysis and the 'exploiting a legal gap' hypothesis go beyond what the source establishes.

• Russian strikes this month hit vessels inside the EEZs of Romania and Bulgaria for the first time — Directly matches source: 'poprvé zasáhly několik plavidel ve výlučných ekonomických zónách zemí NATO – Rumunska a Bulharska'
• Bulgaria has been governed since spring by a cabinet favoring dialogue with Moscow and opposing expanded military aid to Ukraine — Matches source: government 'od jara' pushes dialogue with Moscow and opposes strengthening military aid to Ukraine
• Experts say Moscow deliberately chose Bulgaria to test NATO's response, seeing Sofia as the weakest link — Matches source: 'Podle expertů si Rusko schválně vybralo Bulharsko jako test reakce NATO... slabý alianční článek'
• An EEZ gives resource rights, not territorial-waters status, limiting Article 5 applicability — General legal claim not found in or attributed to the source material; it's background legal context the article asserts on its own authority
• Moscow is exploiting this legal gap to pressure NATO without triggering a unified response — Explicitly framed as the article's own hypothesis; source only quotes experts on Russia testing NATO's reaction, not on exploiting EEZ legal ambiguity specifically
• The source attributes intent to unnamed experts, not Moscow directly, and doesn't establish a coordinated campaign — Accurate self-assessment; source indeed says 'Podle expertů' (according to experts) rather than confirmed Russian strategy