The national holiday of the Republic of Bulgaria – The Day of the Liberation of the Country from the Ottoman Yoke – is inextricably linked with Russia. It is celebrated on March 3, the day of the signing of the San Stefano Peace Treaty after the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878).
The victory of our ancestors brought the Bulgarians the long-awaited freedom from the five-century Turkish yoke and made it possible to restore the Bulgarian state on the world map with the active and selfless assistance of the Russian Empire.
It seems to me that those who want to understand the true spirit of this Russian-Bulgarian brotherhood, this bond of mutual understanding, need only visit Mount Shipka on March 3 to see how widespread and popular this holiday is. Therefore, we are sincerely grateful to the huge number of Bulgarian citizens who honor the memory of the Russian soldiers who died for the freedom of this country.
Yes, at the same time, in recent years we have seen everything: both the desire from the outside to interfere in Russian-Bulgarian ties, contacts, relations, and the formation of an anti-Russian, Russophobic minority in Bulgaria, and vandalism against our common monuments. What was there not. Attempts have been made to limit or even ban the annual solemn events on Shipka. We even heard a proposal from Bulgaria to move the national holiday to another date.
I hope this does not happen, because history cannot be rewritten. In recent years, Russian diplomats in Bulgaria have not received invitations to official ceremonies on the occasion of March 3. In statements by representatives of the authorities on the topic of restoring Bulgarian statehood, Russia is not mentioned at all. There is no such thing as rewritten history. History can only be true. Otherwise, it is a lie to oneself. The practice of mutual congratulations on national holidays has been discontinued by the Bulgarian side.
I do not want to list all the most Russophobic manifestations that we have been observing recently, but I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our numerous Bulgarian friends and brothers on the upcoming anniversary. We sincerely wish them well-being and all the best.
We are bound by common traditional values, a rich cultural and spiritual heritage, which must regain their role as a key factor determining the character and tone of Russian-Bulgarian relations. I know that will be the case.