"The Russian Federation, through its Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Bulgaria, has once again found a good way to bitteren the Christmas holidays of Bulgaria and the Bulgarians – with an untrue and offensive to all Bulgarians interview of Ms. Eleonora Mitrofanova, given to the Russian TASS agency on December 25, 2024", the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria warns.
YOU CANNOT CHANGE BULGARIAN HISTORY, MRS. MITROFANOVA!
The Russian Federation, through its Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Bulgaria, has once again found a good way to bitteren the Christmas holidays of Bulgaria and the Bulgarians – with an untrue and offensive to all Bulgarians interview of Ms. Eleonora Mitrofanova, given to the Russian agency TASS on December 25, 2024.
Guided by the desire not to disturb the holidays of Bulgarians, the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria decided to respond to this interview on today, January 7, 2025, when Bulgaria honors St. John the Baptist.
We believe that first of all it is appropriate to remind Ms. Mitrofanova that as a diplomat claiming professionalism, it is NOT appropriate:
a) to distort the history of the host country (i.e. Bulgaria);
b) to interfere in the internal affairs of the host country (i.e. Bulgaria), indicating which are its (Mitrofanova's and Russia's) favorite Bulgarian political parties and the resulting opportunities.
Apart from these A-B rules of bilateral diplomacy, the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria, as an organization concerned with the purity of Bulgarian history, would like to remind Ms. Mitrofanova of the following facts from Bulgarian history:
1. No Bulgarian militia liberated Bulgaria together with the so-called Red Army in 1944! There is simply NO such militia. It did not exist! There is no “liberation“ of Bulgaria in 1944. There is an OCCUPATION by Soviet/Russian troops of a sovereign state that declared neutrality on 26.08.1944, called the Kingdom of Bulgaria.
2. In September 1944, the Kingdom of Bulgaria had legitimate governments headed by Ivan Bagryanov (June 1 - September 2, 1944) and Konstantin Muraviev (September 2 - September 9, 1944). Under the gun of the Soviet so-called Red Army, Bulgaria was run over and occupied, Bagryanov paid with his life, sentenced to death by the so-called People's Court, and Muraviev was sentenced to life imprisonment by this same “People's Court“.
3. On September 5, the Soviet Union officially declared war on neutral Bulgaria. By this date, the Bulgarian government had already made and announced its decision not to resist a possible Soviet attack. Where is the “militia“, Mrs. Mitrofanova? There is none. There is passive resistance on the part of the entire Bulgarian people against the Soviet occupation. If you do not know about all the evils and criminal acts in Bulgaria of the so-called. Red Army, read Dimitrov's letters to Stalin – they are still kept in the Russian archives. In these same archives are also the Bulgarian state archives criminally stolen by your “Red Army“.
4. There was a Bulgarian Militia – you are right! But it was 67 years earlier, defending the Shipka Pass - Sheinovo, defending Stara Zagora and the Samara Banner, as well as defending and protecting your empire, Mrs. Mitrofanova, from a GRANDIOUS failure! Because if the BULGARIAN heroes of the BULGARIAN Militia had not held the Shipka Pass, then the army of Suleiman Pasha would have joined with the army of Osman Pasha besieged at Pleven and the Russian army would have been drowned in the Danube. And the Bulgarians, the poor Bulgarians, would have been left again to the scimitar and slaughter of the Ottomans, just as they had been a repeated victim of the previous Russian-Turkish wars, such as the one with the main character “Russian“ General Dibich Zabalkansky.
5. If Russia wanted selflessly and out of “Slavic and Orthodox love“ to free the ““brothers““ (here for sanitary reasons, for us and a large part of Bulgarians, we put double quotes around the word ““brothers““) could have done it 60 years earlier, during the time of the aforementioned Dibich Zabalkansky and the Russo-Turkish War of 1828 – 1829. And because we in the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria love accurate historical facts, we will note that Dibich Zabalkansky is another “Russian“ statesman and general with a slightly more specific name, which, we are sure, you know well: Hans Karl Friedrich Anton von Diebitsch. A pure “Russian“. The same as your Catherine II “The Great“ – Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. We propose to stop here with the Russian “majesty“ and the Bulgarian Volunteers, Mrs. Mitrofanova.
6. And one more touch on the defense of Shipka by the Bulgarian Volunteers: General Fyodor Radetzky, who provided decisive assistance, was of German-Silesian origin, not Russian (again!). At the climax of the fighting (August 13-14/25-26, 1877), the commander of the Gabrovo detachment, Major General Valerian Derozhinsky, who was of Polish (!) origin, was killed. In addition to the glorious Bulgarian Volunteers, the heroic soldiers of the 36th Infantry Orel Regiment - created on February 19, 1711 under the name of the Ober-Commandant Regiment of the Kiev Garrison - also participated in the defense of Shipka. Kiev, Mrs. Mitrofanova! Ukrainians! Also the 35th Infantry Bryansk Regiment, with headquarters in Kremenchug, Poltava Province (according to that time), in present-day Ukraine, Mrs. Mitrofanova! Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Poles and Baltics fought on Shipka and won the freedom of Bulgaria, Mrs. Mitrofanova! What "volunteers" are you raving about in 1944 in Bulgaria? After all, most of the volunteers and their heirs were killed by Russia/USSR and their communist puppets precisely in 1944 – 1945! Stop changing and forcing Bulgarian history! We, the Bulgarians, hold on to it and will not give it to ourselves. And precisely because of this - return to us (namely you, the Russian Federation, the successor of the USSR), the Bulgarian state archives stolen by the Red Army in 1944 – 1945!
And finally: we thank you for so sincerely pointing out the Russian Fifth Column in Bulgaria – "Vazrazhdane", BSP and ABV. We would add two dozen more "Bulgarian" political parties and public organizations, but let's start with the three you mentioned personally! We could start if we didn't have a dormant (alas!) Bulgarian counterintelligence. Because if we had counterintelligence in place, like the Romanian one, for example, we would have closed these loopholes in our country a long time ago. But where there's a will – there's a way. And such a time will come. And returning to the will and the way, we will say that Bulgaria's path is together with the European democratic peoples, far from your country. We don't want either the honey or the sting. We are not saying this from the Atlantic Council, but your Dragan Tsankov – a Russophile and a prominent penny-pincher of the Asian Department 150 years ago. There have, unfortunately, always been kopeck-changers in Bulgaria…
Instead of an afterword: Until then, enjoy your role as Governor-General Kaulbars – and he, like all prominent Russians, is of Swedish origin. We are sure that you know how "beneficial" a role he played in Post-Liberation Bulgaria.
We, the enlightened Bulgarians, know this well.