“The Bulgarian people are not a herd that can be driven in the direction indicated by Brussels or Washington. Bulgarians have a historical memory, their own way of thinking and the ability to assess events through the prism of their national interest. No matter how much effort is made to impose a single point of view, Bulgarians cannot be made to think on command,” said Kostadin Kostadinov, chairman of Vazrazhdane, commenting on the published GLOBSEC survey.
According to the data, 58% of surveyed Bulgarians believe that Europe and the United States provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and bear responsibility for it. 51% identify Russia as Bulgaria’s strategic partner. Bulgaria is the only one of the 14 countries surveyed in which Russia was most frequently identified as a strategic partner.
“This shows that Bulgarian society does not automatically accept the views presented to it as the only permissible ones. No matter how much they try to stigmatize dissenting opinions, label them disinformation and suggest that there is only one permitted position, the Bulgarian people will not give up their right to form their own judgment. They cannot explain to us what we should think, whom we should consider a friend and which foreign interests we should place above our own,” Kostadinov said.
He stressed that Bulgaria’s foreign policy should be determined by the national interest, rather than by pressure from external centers and attempts to ideologically shape public opinion.
“They may control the television channels, promote convenient analysts and repeat the same messages, but they cannot control the thoughts of the Bulgarian people. Bulgarians have a position of their own and will not allow anyone to dictate what they should think,” Kostadinov said emphatically.