diplomats must leave the country

Direct air traffic between Bulgaria and Russia is no longer possible due to sanctions, but an exception has been made for a special flight on Sunday. Seventy Russian diplomats and their families boarded a plane to their homeland. Outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov had shown them the door to espionage activities.

This to the anger of the militant Russian ambassador in Sofia, who threatened to close her embassy, ​​and that of the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow. But for now, many Russian diplomats are staying behind, because Russia had stationed quite a few diplomats in relatively small Bulgaria (6.5 million inhabitants): 118 – after deducting the ten diplomats that Bulgaria has already laid off in March.

weak link

The reason for such a strong Russian diplomatic presence is that Russia traditionally has a good image among the brotherly Slavic people, and that Moscow sees Bulgaria as an equally important and weak link: it is a relatively impressionable member state of the NATO and the European Union. .

But love cooled on both sides after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 2021, Russian President Putin still enjoyed the sympathy of 70% of Bulgarians, up from 29% in March this year.

Conversely, Moscow was not at all happy with Petkov’s government. Liberal Petkov followed the EU sanctions policy, provided humanitarian and military support to Ukraine and also called for a stronger NATO presence on its territory. All of this led Russia to completely shut off the gas tap to Bulgaria at the end of April.

Not everyone in his four-party coalition thanked Petkov for this pro-European course. Two weeks ago, his government collapsed under the accumulated tensions, the direct reason being the EU membership desired by neighboring North Macedonia.

pipot

All the while, Russia’s ambassador to Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, tried to sharpen political relations in Bulgaria in an undiplomatic way. For example, she publicly called Petkov an “employee of the United States,” said his government lacked support from its own people and had turned their country into a “Euro-Atlantic pispot.” The embassy also called on Bulgarians to financially support the Russian campaign in Ukraine.

Petkov’s chief of staff, Lena Borislavova, over the weekend accused the Russians of paying many politicians, journalists and analysts who appear in the media to carry a pro-Russian message. The Bulgarian secret service has known for some time, but she did not specify how many people are involved, let alone which ones.

Now that Petkov’s government has been forced to resign, Bulgaria may soon take a more pro-Russian course. Petkov and his coalition parties had pledged to end endemic corruption in the country. For many Bulgarians, the personification of this is former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who was in power for a long time until 2021. It was his Gerb party that tabled the no-confidence motion against Petkov last month.

New elections could take place in September. The question is whether this will bring more stability to the country, which already went to the polls three times last year. In any case, Russia is unlikely to stop trying to sow discord, although it will have to do the job with half the number of diplomats.

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