site.btaMovement for Rights and Freedoms: "Russian Ambassador Sermonizing, Ordering Around Inadmissibly"

"The Russian Ambassador is sermonizing and is ordering us around in an inadmissible way, we will not stand idly by," Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Floor Leader Delyan Peevski said, quoted by his party in a press release on Friday.

Peevski apparently reacted to a statement by Russia's Ambassador in Sofia Eleonora Mitrofanova, who said earlier in the day that the closure of the Russian church in Bulgaria's capital was "a political act where "someone had to show something to someone." The diplomat spoke to the media at the reopening of the church.

"Today we witnessed arrogant and insolent behaviour from a representative of a foreign State: Russian Ambassador Mitrofanova. A representative of a foreign State, who takes the liberty to lock and unlock an Orthodox Christian church, to pass judgments on the rule of law and on the host country's state bodies, and to call into question the ability of the institutions to protect the interests of Bulgarian citizens," Peevski said.

The MRF pointed out that, as politicians, they could not remain indifferent to "attempts to divert Bulgaria from the direction it took 34 years ago".

"This imperialistic style of action is unacceptable, and we urge the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works to immediately take legal action for the ownership of the church, as indisputable evidence has been collected that the Church of St Nicholas is Bulgarian," the press release says. The MRF states it will not allow "pro-Putin agents" to lock up Bulgarian Orthodox churches. "The church belongs to the laity, to Bulgarian Christians. In Euro-Atlantic Bulgaria, interferences that harm people and threaten democracy cannot be tolerated," the statement reads.

The MRF reiterates its call for the withdrawal of the derogation for Lukoil and recalls that the parliamentary parties' attitude to these issues will be a test of their value orientation: "Euro-Atlanticism or Pro-Putinism". "We from the MRF have always steadfastly defended Bulgaria's Euro-Atlanticism," the press release points out.
 
The St Nicholas the Miracle Worker Church in Sofia was shut down on September 21, 2023 after all three non-Bulgarian clergymen officiating there: Russian nationals Nikolay Zmeyev (Archimandrite Vassian), dean of the metochion, Archpriest Yevgeny Pavelchuk, secretary of the metochion, and Belarusian national Vladimir Bonko, staff member, were expelled from Bulgaria by order of the Chairperson of the State Agency for National Security "for implementing various elements of Russia's hybrid strategy for purposeful impacting of socio-political processes in Bulgaria in favour of Russian geopolitical interests."