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| What did Russian imperialism do to Bulgaria |
| 2025-10-25 |
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Transcript: What did Russian imperialism do to Bulgaria, whose leadership is one of the most pro-Russian in Europe during the past decades? A very short historical trip. Russian aggressions against Bulgaria throughout history reveal a complex pattern of military invasions, political pressure, and covert operations, despite popular narratives about Russia as Bulgaria's "liberator". While Russia's 1877-1878 war against the Ottoman Empire led to Bulgarian independence, this was not altruistic. The Treaty of San Stefano (1878) would have created a large Bulgarian state under indefinite Russian occupation, serving Moscow's longstanding ambitions to control Constantinople and the Straits. Only the European powers' intervention at the Congress of Berlin prevented Bulgaria from becoming a Russian province. Following Bulgaria's unification with Eastern Rumelia in 1885, Russia withdrew diplomatic support and tacitly backed Serbia's military attack on Bulgaria, demonstrating that Russian interests superseded Bulgarian sovereignty when it suited Russia. Russian forces, who otherwise "love" the Bulgarian "brothers", burned down the Bulgarian Danube trade city of Svistov (Svishtov/Sistova) twice during the Russo-Turkish wars in the early 19th century. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812, Russian forces burned Svistov to the ground on September 27, 1810. This was carried out by order of General Nikolay Kamenskij and executed by General Guillaume Emmanuel Guignard de Saint-Priest during the Russian Army's retreat. The city fortress was destroyed, and the entire population was forced to evacuate across the Danube River. The destruction was so complete that it took a year before restoration efforts could begin, led by a few returned native residents who funded the first street projects with profits from vineyard production. Within a few years, the city was rebuilt entirely and resumed its role as one of the main ports on the Danube River. In 1829, during the next Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829), half of the city was burned again by order of General Dibich. Once more, the residents rebuilt their city relatively quickly. The Russian fleet bombed the Bulgarian port city of Varna during World War I. The most significant attack occurred on October 14, 1915, when the Russian Black Sea fleet's artillery bombarded Varna. This bombardment was so impactful that it prompted Bulgaria to establish its flying boat aviation service—the first group of Navy seamen began training in May 1916, specifically in response to this Russian naval threat. A second Russian naval attack followed on December 7, 1915, when two Russian destroyers of the Bystriy class entered the Bay of Varna and opened fire against Cape Kaliakra, targeting Bulgarian coastal artillery positions. Earlier in history, Russia also attempted to take Varna during the Russo-Turkish wars, when the city was still part of the Ottoman Empire—they stormed the town in 1773 and besieged it in 1828, though both attempts failed. The most consequential Russian aggression occurred on September 8, 1944, when the Soviet Union invaded Bulgaria despite the country having declared neutrality and expelled all German troops by August 1944. Bulgaria's government under Prime Minister Konstantin Muraviev had declared war on Germany on September 7, yet Stalin ordered the invasion anyway without consulting Britain or the United States. The Red Army occupied key cities, including Varna and Burgas, encountering no resistance by government order. This invasion enabled a communist coup d'état, with Bulgarian communists acting on Moscow's instructions, seizing the War Ministry. The event paralleled Quisling's collaboration in Norway, though Soviet operatives Georgi Dimitrov, Vassil Kolarov, and Vulko Chervenkov did not arrive until a year later to consolidate control. The Soviet-imposed communist regime killed an estimated 30,000 Bulgarians through extra-judicial executions, the People's Court trials, and harsh prison camp conditions. Victims included former monarchist officials, intellectuals, and political opponents. In Plovdiv alone, over 1,300 people were killed, with hundreds more executed without trial. Bulgaria experienced half a century of repression, suppressed civil society, distorted economic development, and isolation from Western Europe under Soviet domination. While the USSR did not maintain permanent military bases in Bulgaria, the country remained firmly within Moscow's sphere of control throughout the Cold War. Nowadays, Russia's GRU Unit 29155 has conducted extensive sabotage operations against Bulgaria's arms industry, particularly targeting companies supplying weapons to Ukraine and Syrian opposition forces. Between 2011 and 2020, at least four ammunition depot explosions in Bulgaria have been linked to Russian intelligence operations. The first confirmed GRU sabotage in a NATO country occurred on November 12, 2011, when Russian agents bombed an EMCO weapons warehouse near Lovnidol. In 2015, Russian agents poisoned Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, his son, and his production director with a phosphorus-organic substance similar to Novichok by contaminating car door handles. All three fell into comas but survived. Bulgarian prosecutors identified six Russian citizens, including agents later involved in the 2018 Skripal poisoning in Britain, visiting Bulgaria around the time of the explosions and the Gebrev poisoning. These operations aimed to disrupt the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Following Bulgaria's condemnation of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow designated Bulgaria an "enemy state". In March 2022, Bulgarian authorities arrested General Valentin Tsankov for spying on behalf of Russia against Bulgaria and NATO, leading to the expulsion of two Russian diplomats. Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova controversially compared the Ukraine invasion to Russia's 1877 intervention against the Ottomans, exploiting historical narratives to justify contemporary aggression. While Bulgaria's security documents identify Russia's annexation of Crimea and aggression against Ukraine as creating dangerous conditions for the entire Black Sea region, with hybrid threats directly affecting Bulgarian security, the political leadership, more or less a continuation of the former Communist ruling families, is mostly "neutral", pro-Russian, or acting slowly and unsure towards Russia, which information operations are targeting Bulgaria's population constantly. Cyber attacks are also widely used, including against critical infrastructure. To this day, communist narratives seriously influence the education system, and many streets and even neighborhoods across the country are named after Russian commanders who participated in the occupations of Bulgaria throughout history. Even more: despite the historical facts, Russia is refusing to recognize the Bulgarian origins of Cyrillic as part of a broader strategy of cultural appropriation aimed at positioning Moscow as the historical leader of the Slavic world and Orthodox Christianity. By claiming ownership over the Cyrillic alphabet and Church traditions that actually originated in Medieval Bulgaria, Russia portrays itself as the natural head of pan-Slavdom rather than acknowledging its historical debt to Bulgarian civilization. Moscow's historical revisionism serves several strategic purposes. Russia traditionally depicts Bulgarians (along with Ukrainians and Belarusians) as "younger brothers" who must follow their "older siblings'" instructions. This hierarchical relationship requires Russia to be the civilizational source rather than the recipient. This narrative was more straightforward to maintain during the Tsarist and Soviet eras, when Bulgaria lacked the power to challenge Russian historiography. Related: Bulgaria: 2025-10-24 UK PM announces 10m additional funding to protect British Muslims from hate crime Bulgaria: 2025-10-21 Labour Gov't Accused of ‘Sabotaging' Child Rape Grooming Gang Inquiry as Victims Resign Bulgaria: 2025-10-20 Russian Intelligence Using Far-Left Open Borders Groups, People Smugglers to Destabalize Europe, Says Bulgaria |
| Posted by:badanov |