SOFIA, August 29. /TASS/. Bulgarian politicians are following the West's lead in their attempts to rewrite history and cancel everything connected with Russia, Russia’s ambassador to Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, told TASS in an interview.

Sofia is out to rewrite what happened in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, when Bulgaria won its independence, and to change the Constitution, in particular, to cancel the official status of the Day of Liberation from the Ottoman yoke, which is celebrated on March 3, Mitrofanova said.

"The attempt to amend the Constitution - to move the national holiday to another day - is connected with today's conjuncture and efforts to cancel Russia and everything connected with it. Bulgaria is now trying to follow the current prevailing trend in the West. I believe that what is happening is a fleeting craze, an attempt to reformat Bulgarian society, to force it to forget its history and at the same time to distract it from discussing pressing issues and problems of building the future," she said.

Mitrofanova recalled that in the 1990s, both Russia and other countries of the former Socialist bloc tried to revise their own history. At the same time, the diplomat emphasized, the Russian-Turkish war, the key events of which are remembered in August, holds a special place in the history of both Russia and Bulgaria, which enables them to continue cooperation despite political opportunism.

History of brotherhood

The Russian ambassador to Sofia looked back on the events preceding the liberation of Bulgaria, which made relations between the peoples of the two countries truly fraternal.

"One can now hear some politicians claim that Russia went to war with Turkey solely because it wanted to get hold of the [Black Sea] straits. I would like to emphasize right away that this is not true. As the eminent Bulgarian scholar, Georgi Markov, very aptly remarked, "the Russian-Turkish war was caused by the ashes of the April Uprising (the anti-Turkish uprising of the Bulgarians in 1876 - TASS)". The greatest minds of Russia - Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov - stirred the public sentiment then to come out in defense of the Bulgarians. Emperor Alexander II, whose memories of the Crimean War were still fresh and who initially was not inclined to go to war, decided to extend a helping hand. In his manifesto he said that the Russian people would save their Orthodox Slavic brothers," Mitrofanova explained.

She also recalled the events of August 1877 at Shipka, when Russian troops and Bulgarian militiamen under the command of Russian generals Fyodor Radetsky and Nikolay Stoletov repelled fierce attacks by Suleiman Pasha’s Turkish troops and won victory at the pass.

"The Battle of Shipka played a decisive role in Bulgaria’s fight for independence. The Bulgarian people remember this very well. It seems to me that Bulgarians are distinguished by a keen sense of historical memory and regardless of the vicissitudes of time express their gratitude to their liberators. This ritual did not change in the country even during the Communist regime. Shipka today remains synonymous with freedom, independence and sovereignty in Bulgaria," Mitrofanova stressed.