When the ambassador speaks Russia and Bulgaria are on the verge of breaking off relations
“We read our ambassador from Russia for the sake of aggregate. What this actually means is that the other party must do the same, – declared Today Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov is in Brussels ahead of the European Council meeting. – I suppose that not a single citizen of Bulgaria is happy to see how a foreign diplomat insults the Bulgarians and the Bulgarian government. This behavior is completely unacceptable,” he said.
The Facebook of the Russian embassy in Bulgaria accompanied the invasion of Ukraine with rude attacks against Bulgaria, which had become officially unfriendly. To begin with, the Bulgarian leadership was called “Euro-Atlantic henchmen”, since, according to their order, on the second day, the RT channel broadcast widely, and soon Sputnik. A week later, Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova, in a video greeting to all Bulgarians on the occasion of the national holiday – the Day of Liberation from the Ottoman Yoke – compared the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78, when, with the sharp assistance of the Russian army, Bulgaria was restored on the political map of Europe, with the preservation of the war crankcase of the Kremlin against the “Nazi Kiev regime”. The ambassador emphasized that the Russian side of the leadership is connected with this “humanistic Christian values.”
Kiril Petkov, who recently celebrated a hundred days of his performance, could not stand such a head of the cabinet. Even in the official photograph of his face, the degree of his indignation: having called the ambassador for a conversation, he very sharply stated about such a comparison. “Our gratitude to the Russian people for the liberation cannot be underestimated by comparison with today’s fratricidal war in Ukraine,” Petkov said. The premiere also took place in the fact that the embassy of the Russian Federation did not interfere in the investigation on the charges in Bulgaria.
The forced apology was changed, but that didn’t change anything. The last straw was an interview on Mitrofanova’s Russia 24 channel, in which she stated that the Bulgarian people do not support “neither the rhetoric nor the actions of their decisions against Russia”, and that this does not only apply to those who write to the embassy about their support, but and “citizens of this country as a whole”. The head of the Russian diplomatic mission behaves in Bulgaria like a Russian governor general, declared Atlantic Council of Bulgaria. Calls began to be heard in the media and public circles for the expulsion of Mitrofanova.
As for “citizens in general,” the Ambassador, by the way, was mistaken. 40% changed their attitude towards Russia in a negative direction due to military incursions in Ukraine the confirmation data from a Trend agency survey conducted between March 5 and 12. Only 16% believe that the Russian invasion is justified, 61% hold the opposite opinion. Earlier it was reported that if in 2020-2022. positive profit to President Putin was given up to 58% in Bulgaria, then in the first four days of the war, as showed survey agency Alpha Research, this figure has almost doubled, to 32%, and negative values have more than doubled – from 20 to 48%.
Just before Mitrofanova’s televised interview, Bulgaria declared persona non grata and expelled ten Russian diplomats. Prime Minister Petkov, deviating from his generally accepted practice, explained in a conversation with the press that there was not a single random person among them: all these people, by discovery, were involved in the “management of hybrid attacks.” One of them, the prime minister said, is allowed to keep him in the country, since diabetes ends here.
The example shows Ukraine what we adhere to. If there is any threat, we will respond
Immediately after that, Petkov had to reprimand once again on behalf of Russia: “It is unacceptable that a foreign ambassador should act in the name of the Bulgarian people against the resolution.” “This is the intended nature of the Vienna likelihood of intercourse detection,” the embassy said. , remains until
However, her excessive activity in revealing by the standards of talkativeness and a tendency to sharpness in revealing revelations has not been excluded recently. Other Russian ambassadors are also “talking”. Bosnia and Herzegovina has the right to decide whether to join NATO or not, declared a week ago, Russia’s ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Kalabukhov, warned that Moscow gives the right to react to such an opportunity. “If Bosnia and Herzegovina decides to become a member of any alliance, this is its consequence. Our phenomenon is another matter. The example of Ukraine shows what we are pursuing. . “We will respond by analyzing the strategic and geopolitical situation,” he added.
The author is a correspondent for Novaya Gazeta in the Balkans, especially for Radio Liberty