site.btaSofia Responds to Moscow's Reaction to Formation of Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee of Inquiry into Russia's Alleged Interference in Bulgaria

Sofia Responds to Moscow's Reaction to Formation of Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee of Inquiry into Russia's Alleged Interference in Bulgaria

Sofia, February 26 (BTA) - In connection with a statement made at a Thursday briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, reacting to the formation at the National Assembly of an Ad Hoc Committee of Inquiry into Russia's and Turkey's alleged interference into Bulgaria's internal affairs, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Betina Joteva released the following statement on Friday, which was published on the Ministry's website:

"Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy, in which the National Assembly adopts sovereign resolutions based on its powers and prompted by the country's national interests.

"The executive branch of government in the Republic of Bulgaria does not take the liberty of commenting in a similar way on resolutions of the Russian Parliament, and sees the respective statements on the part of the executive branch of government of another State as a disregard for good manners.

"Such public displays could even be viewed as confirming the suspicions on the basis of which it was proposed to form the ad hoc committee at the National Assembly.

"In the present complicated international environment, characterized by numerous crises, conflicts and challenges, what we would expect from the Russian Federation is a constructive stand and contribution to solving the most important international problems rather than an inappropriate comment on the activity of the supreme legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria from the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson."

In her statement, Zakharova said, quoted on her Ministry's website:

"History indeed knows examples of a peculiar so-called 'intervention' by Russia in Bulgaria, when Russian soldiers were in its territory, arms in hand, to oppose fascism and to liberate their brothers from evil. Earlier, [Russian soldiers were there] to liberate the Slavs from the five-century yoke of that same Turkey. We all perfectly well remember history, those who don't may refresh their memory. Certainly, one is left to wonder about the point of looking, yet again, for the notorious 'hand of Moscow' in a State where generations are much obliged to their brothers for its sovereignty, its sovereign existence. Not that we are trying to present the bill and remind of what Russian people, citizens of our country, have done for Bulgaria. We have never done that and will not do it. But when such inept and absurd bodies emerge which, without trying to clarify something, jump to deliberately false conclusions, it is always good to recall our joint common history in this situation.

"It is to be feared that, prodded on by such parliamentarians, politicians, a 'neo-McCarthyism' is appearing in Bulgarian society. Such steps taken by the initiators are all the more cynical, considering that the notorious Committee was set up on the eve of the 138th anniversary of Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman yoke."

The National Assembly established the Ad Hoc Committee of Inquiry into All Facts and Circumstances Related to Allegations of Interference, on the Part of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, in the Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria on February 19. The motion was entered by 72 MPs of GERB, BSP-Left Bulgaria, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the Bulgarian Democratic Centre and the Patriotic Front, and was carried, 126-19 with 13 abstentions. The 16-member Committee, chaired by Valentin Radev MP of GERB, was given two months to complete its work.