Russia uses all possible means, including in the field of education and culture, for political propaganda and hybrid actions against enemy countries, including Bulgaria. This is stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Georg Georgiev in a written response to a question from deputies from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria", quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio.
The deputies ask: "Will Bulgarian diplomacy protest against Russia's anti-Bulgarian attacks and in what form?" after the statement of the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, in which she made harsh attacks on deputies, the Bulgarian National Television and our country as a whole.
Zakharova claims that a campaign is being waged in the Bulgarian public space against Russian language teachers and non-governmental organizations friendly to Russia, which, according to her, is a classic "witch hunt" in the spirit of the totalitarian practices of the 20th century.
In his written response to the deputies, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev points out that according to data from the Ministry of Education - specific student competitions have been used to promote Russian geopolitical interests, and cooperation between Bulgarian schools and pro-Russian organizations includes unacceptable practices. Georgiev recalls that in our country the Russian language is not restricted or banned and continues to be studied in Bulgarian schools.
"However, Russia's policy regarding educational rights is ambiguous and unprincipled. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, over 30 thousand Bulgarians, mainly from the Zaporozhye region, have been under Russian occupation. Their right to study Bulgarian is limited. Bulgarian Sunday schools in Melitopol and Berdyansk, financed by Bulgaria, have been forced to cease their in-person education. The Bulgarian-Ukrainian lyceum in the city of Primorsk has also been closed," Georgiev notes.
"Bulgaria categorically rejects the mixing of facts by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. The attempts, the legitimate and transparent actions of the Bulgarian authorities to present themselves as a "witch hunt", are a gross manipulation," Georgiev emphasizes.
He adds that qualifying the counteraction to Russian propaganda as Russophobia distorts the objective reality of documented cases of hybrid attacks against democratic institutions in the country.