The team of Radio Bulgaria is sad to announce that our beloved colleague Anna Futskova has left us today at the age of 52. Annie lost her battle with cancer. She gave her heart and soul to Radio Bulgaria, where she worked for more than 20 years until the end.

After graduating in Russian Philology and Modern Greek Language and Literature from Sofia University, Anna Futskova joined Radio Bulgaria's Russian-language programme in 1997. Over the years she has worked as a reporter, editor and presenter. Anna was among the group of journalists who in 2004 laid the foundations for the development of Radio Bulgaria's unique information website in text, image and sound in 11 languages (Bulgarian, Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Serbian, Greek, Albanian, Turkish and Arabic).

She was one of the staunchest defenders of Radio Bulgaria in 2017, when the overseas service, whose history dates back to 1936, was threatened with closure.

Unwavering, she never gave up, brimming with ideas and always dedicated to her work - this is how we will remember Annie, to whom we all often turned for professional help or friendly advice.