CC-DB Want Information from Bulgarian Services on Occasion of "Inadmissible and Arrogant Statement" by Russian Duma Deputy Chairman about Bulgaria

MP Mikovski descends from the rostrum after reading the CC-DB declaration (BTA Photo)

Sofia,

26.07.2023 14:47

(BTA)

The Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) want information from the Bulgarian services related to a comment Russian State Duma member Pyotr Tolstoy made about Bulgaria last week, the coalition stated in a declaration read by MP Ivaylo Mitkovski from the parliamentary rostrum Wednesday.

Russian State Duma Deputy Chairman Pyotr Tolstoy said July 21, speaking on Russia-24 television, that Bulgaria and Romania are possible targets of Russian military aggression after finishing with Ukraine. "In Bulgaria, our citizens occupy the whole coast. They will start showing everything. There is no problem there. They are not the big powers with which it makes sense to play games," he said.

"At the end of last week, we witnessed a display of unacceptable arrogance, building up to insolence, on the part of the acting Russian MP Pyotr Tolstoy in relation to our country," Mitkovski said. According to him, the acting Deputy Chairman of the Russian Duma dared to publicly declare the Bulgarian Black Sea coast a Russian territory and his compatriots in Bulgaria to be a kind of "sleeper cells" for the creation of organized unrest bordering on civil war. Tolstoy's allegations were described as yet another hybrid attack by Russia, formulated by a lawmaker who, not for the first time, treated this country as a vassal territory of the Putin regime.

CC-DB insist that Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova be summoned by the Foreign Ministry and give an official answer to the Bulgarian State whether the position expressed by Tolstoy is the official state position of the Russian government towards Bulgaria.

CC-DB want the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and the specialized services in Bulgaria to go to the National Assembly and give a definite answer as to whether there is any reason for the Russian diaspora on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast to be perceived as a threat to civil peace in our country and if there are indications of such expectations, control measures should be taken to ensure the security of Bulgarian citizens.

The MP commented that CC-DB is adamant that Bulgaria cannot and should not be turned into a target of unhealthy political desires and foreign interests at any cost.

Back home from a one-day official visit to Greece, Prime Minister Denkov said that he would talk to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that "a clear sign be given that these statements are unacceptable". He also said that Russian Ambassador in Sofia Eleonora Mitrofanova "must get the message". "I don't think she should be declared persona non grata on account of any such statement. After all, the statement is not hers," Denkov added.

The call to declare Mitrofanova persona non grata came from the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria.

/BR/