A few months after the emergence of the saga surrounding the South Stream gas pipeline, tensions between Sofia and Moscow have renewed this time with a different bone of contention. On Tuesday, caretaker Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov without any clear reason said that Russian fighters and bombers were set to pass into history, a circumstance that would put an end to the dependence of the Bulgarian Air Force on Moscow. In his words, Bulgaria, being member of NATO, is in a position to acquire 8 to10 combat aircraft of a new type.

Information immediately leaked in the press that in all probability Shalamanov had meant second-hand aircraft such as the American F-16 or the European Eurofighter. The Swedish brand Gripen has also been part of the speculations. In the first place, it is quite disputable whether a caretaker cabinet minister with a mandate of roughly three months should make any statements concerning long-term strategies that are in the competence of parliament and a regular government.

Sofia’s a priori refusal from Russia’s MIG aircraft in a hypothetical tender for the purchase of aircraft has obviously irritated Moscow that is selling machines to half of the world. There was no official response though, but only a tweet from Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin carried on his Twitter account who among other things wrote the following: „A man with the name Shalamanov has persuaded PM Bliznashki to betray Russia once again … to the benefit of second-hand fighters“. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov was swift falling into the trap, and instead of using Twitter or a similar media vehicle, he made an official statement that Bulgaria is a sovereign state taking independent decisions and owing no explanations to third countries. Russian media responded quickly and with irony especially to the part of the statement about the independent decisions of a sovereign country which is member of NATO.

As if this was not enough, there were a new exchange of harsh language between Sofia and Moscow. In an interview for the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev qualified Russia as "a nationalistic and aggressive state."

This time Moscow’s official position was not late. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich termed Plevneliev’s words „unacceptable rhetoric meant to please a short-term pro-Western state of affairs that defies centennial traditions of friendship and cooperation between the peoples of Russia and Bulgaria.”

A few observers in Bulgaria and abroad alike have voiced their surprise that the European Union’s poorest and most corrupt country and until 25 years ago the Soviet Union’s most loyal satellite, has now become one of the Russophobes at NATO.

English Daniela Konstantinova