/ world today news/ EU public opinion polls, commissioned by Brussels, identify the people who are most dissatisfied with the policy towards Russia, the sanctions regime and aid to Ukraine. Moreover, these people believe that NATO is primarily to blame for the current conflict. This people are the Bulgarians, among whom, as it was believed until recently, defeated Russophobia. What changed?
The Bulgarians are not in step – in step with the European Union. This conclusion comes from sociological research, including a completely fundamental work commissioned by the European Commission.
The first clear illustration: only about 44% of respondents in Bulgaria support sanctions against Russia. The average for Europe is almost twice as much – 80%, and the largest concentration of supporters of the economic war is in Portugal – 93%.
Seemingly simple at first glance: Portugal’s dependence on Russian energy resources is zero, and on the Russian market as a whole is minimal. In Bulgaria, it is the exact opposite, especially when it comes to hydrocarbons: under Comrade Zhivkov there, they got used to receiving everything from the USSR and for a long time did not bother to diversify supplies. Despite the long period of prime ministership of the Atlanticist-Russophobe Boyko Borisov, more than 70% of the oil in Bulgaria is of Russian origin.
However, the same research shows that the proximity of the problem to one’s own skin is not necessarily the main determining factor. Among the equally zealous supporters of sanctions, you may be surprised to find the Finns, whose economic well-being is heavily dependent on Russia – more than any other EU country, which is dictated by both geographic and demographic reasons.
The totality of what can be called historical gratitude or historical claim also does not always become a decisive argument for the European layman. Hungarians, for example, have a complicated relationship with us – with references to the list, which includes both the suppression of the Hungarian uprising of 1848 in Austria-Hungary and the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in the Hungarian People’s Republic in 1956. However, Hungarians are also among those who do not are in step – along with the Greeks, who really owe a lot to Russia.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the majority of the population opposes the supply of military equipment to Ukraine in only four EU countries – Cyprus (64%), Bulgaria (62%), Greece (57%) and Slovakia (51 %). At the same time, Cypriots, Greeks and Bulgarians also do not approve of the ban on Russian state media.
Citizens of the same four, but according to another European poll, believe that diplomacy and trade with Russia will ensure Europe’s security to a greater extent than increasing defense spending. At the same time, Bulgarians are in the worst position from the point of view of the European Commission – 20% are in favor of an arms race, and 57% are in favor of business and dialogue. And finally, the most telling: only 23% of Bulgarians believe that “mainly Russia” is to blame for the conflict around Ukraine, and 44% answered “mainly NATO” (among the Greeks, the most popular answer was “Russia and NATO equally” – 29%).
For European officials, such figures probably came as a shock, but in Russia they assumed something similar, although not without surprise.
Borisov, mentioned above, was in power for more than ten years. On our side of the border, people have already got used to Sofia’s firm orientation towards Washington and the Russophobic antics of the “brothers”, for most of whom, judging by the length of Borisov’s rule, things did not look fatal.
Against such a background, only the laziest political scientist did not remember that in both world wars the Bulgarians fought for the side opposing Russia, at the same time for the losing side. Like, such are traitors.
And then something amazing happened.
March 3 can be considered the day of the revival of Russian-Bulgarian friendship. The time and place of the action are extremely symbolic – the Day of the Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke (which, as everyone remembers, was accompanied by a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire by the Russian army) and festive events on Mount Shipka with the participation of senior officials.
Borisov basically ignored such events, but the new Prime Minister Kiril Petkov risked appearing in front of the people, during which he was booed, cursed, hit on the head with a snowball thrown by the crowd, and cowardly retreated behind the bodyguards. under the cries of “traitor!”.
On that day, Russian flags could be seen in many places in Bulgaria. People didn’t just celebrate – they protested against the policy of the government, in which Petkov decided to overtake the American locomotive and took a more anti-Russian position than he should, if it comes not only from the historical appreciation of the Bulgarians towards the Russians, but also from the national interests of Bulgaria .
Amid the national interest disputes, Defense Minister Stefan Yanev, a NATO general who is not a Russophile at all, but simply urged Petkov to be more careful and not to “break wood” on the Russian issue, was even kicked out of the government.
It is not surprising that, according to the same study by the European Commission, only 35% of Bulgarians trust the information about the events in Ukraine, which is broadcast by the authorities. This is the worst result in the whole EU with an average result of 63%.
The European Union is now united to a much lesser degree than the West would like – see, for example, Hungary, for which the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation has not yet been adopted. But the Bulgarians, it turns out, are the nation least satisfied with their own government’s foreign policy – due to the fact that it is anti-Russian and simply stupid (as the Bulgarian leftists say – “anti-national”).
Having received a snowball in the face, Petkov could change his mind – for a relatively young and inexperienced head of state, this must have been a traumatic experience. But it only got worse.
Contrary to all logic, Bulgaria joined Poland among the first countries to which Gazprom stopped gas supplies due to refusal to pay in rubles. It soon became clear that solidarity with the most Russophobic country in Europe is a funny thing: Germans, Italians and many others calmly pay for gas in rubles. That is, Petkov once again overtook the locomotive, forgetting about national interests.
Realizing his mistake, the Bulgarian prime minister rushed to Washington for support and seemed to get it: upon his return from America, he announced that the US would provide Bulgaria with its liquefied natural gas at prices lower than gas from Russia.
Petkov did not elaborate on how this is even possible, since apparently more expensive LNG, especially overseas, suddenly becomes cheaper than Russian pipeline gas. It will be listened to with interest in Asia, where LNG is used and as a result pay two or three times more for gas than Europeans (which is an important competitive advantage for the European industry), as well as in Bulgaria itself, where the jump in the prices of blue fuel after the break with “Gazprom” amounted to almost 15%.
As a result, even his direct subordinates do not trust Petkov. Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov has already called the refusal to pay in rubles “hasty”. Judging by the behavior of the deputy prime minister and confidant of the head of government, Asen Vassilev, this will soon be reviewed.
However, this will not cancel the shame of the Bulgarian authorities. Still, they should have remembered not to make such a mistake, given Bulgaria’s dependence on imports from Russia and this very sobering snowball.
Bulgarians continue to protest: for example, last week they protested against the delivery of arms to Ukraine, and some even tried to storm administrative buildings in Sofia with ladders. But much more important for Russia is that unexpected revolt against Shipka’s Russophobia in the early days of the special operation, when it seemed that all of Europe was against us.
Another thing is that, as historical practice shows, if the Bulgarian governments “chew to the end” Russophobia, then the population, outraged by it, on the contrary, “does not chew to the end”, that is why two world wars are fought on the losing side and despite the principle of historical justice.
Surprisingly, the revival of normal and even friendly Russian-Bulgarian relations is possible with care not for Russian (What do we need Bulgaria for, after all?), but for Bulgarian national interests, as advised by NATO General Yanev.
But the Bulgarians will certainly not “chew to the end” again. They will just continue to be out of step.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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