Viktor Sharapov, Chairman of the Union of the Friends of Bulgaria, ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria
(25 March 1988 –1992)

I cordially thank the editorial board of the prestigious Bulgarian Diplomatic Review magazine for the opportunity to answer your questions on the pages of the issue dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Russia.

My brightest memories of my work in Bulgaria are connected with the changes in the political, economic and social spheres, which occurred on the verge of the 1990s. They went off in the general course of democratic processes in the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries. Not everything turned out like we imagined. But the foundations of the novel and the progressive we are now witnessing in Bulgaria were laid back then.

The relations between Russia and Bulgaria are built upon the same principles as with the other countries. Yet, we are connected by something bigger than the principles of interstate relations. This is the feelings of the people, the public attitude.

The Russians and the Bulgarians feel the closeness of language, culture, the spiritual heritage of Orthodoxy. For 126 years now the monuments to the Russian soldiers who died in the Russo-Turkish war have been standing in the Bulgarian land. They have not become silent witnesses of the events. They are the living memory of the heroic and glorious past. Of course, we should not only look at the past. But to forget it, not to turn to it when the course of our future development is being set – this would also be wrong. The Liberation of Bulgaria was a joint deed of our peoples. The blood shed by their sons has strengthened the age-old relations, has consolidated and deepened them. Later, history placed Russia and Bulgaria on opposite sides of the front in the two world wars, the flame of which burned us but did not incinerate the good feelings between Russians and Bulgarians. Russia and Bulgaria have their own, peculiar, special relations. I believe that the generations today and in the future will have enough heart and mind to preserve them.

Mr. Georgi Pankov – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to Russia (1986-1990)

The issue about the relations between Bulgaria and Russia, between Bulgarians and Russians, is extremely topical and important for the present and future state and development of our two countries and peoples.

In my activity as a Deputy Minister of the Heavy Industry, trade representative of Bulgaria in Russia, Minister of the Chemical Industry and ambassador to Russia, I have worked in major economic establishments, institutions and organisations on matters regarding the all-round relations between the two states – trade-economic, political, cultural.

These were relations between two Slavic sister countries. They stood out from the friendship and cooperation with other countries.

The relations between our two peoples were sincere and benevolent. Thanks to Russia’s sincere and decisive technical and economic aid, Bulgaria overcame its backwardness to grow into a country with developed industry and agriculture, with developed effective economy.

The socialist integration in those years had firmly bonded the economies of the two countries. Bulgaria and Russia cooperated within the frames of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid, and also on bilateral basis. The large plants and combines in the field of the chemical, paper-cellulose, metallurgical and energy industries were constructed under Russian projects, with Russian machinery and equipment. The staple raw materials for the operation of these plants and combines were imported from Russia.

We imported major raw and prime materials from Russia. Annually: oil – 12.5 million tonnes, fuel oil – 1.2 million tonnes, coal – 6 million tonnes, natural gas – 6.9 billion cubic meters, electricity – about 5 billion KW, ingots – 1.5 million tonnes, coke coal – 2 million tonnes, iron ore – 1.2 million tonnes, petrol for the petro-chemical industry – 200,000 tonnes, cellulose – 10,000 tonnes, newsprint – 27,000 tonnes, cardboard – 15,000 tonnes, other types of paper – 30,000 tonnes, cast iron – 70,000 tonnes, rolled ferrous metals – 75,000 tonnes, timber – 50,000 cubic meters, navy fuel oil – 170,000 tonnes, petrol – 240,000 tonnes, diesel fuel – 40,000 tonnes, soot – 30,000 tonnes, sulfur – 120,000 tonnes, cotton – 50,000 tonnes, sugar – 14,000 tonnes for the production of bottled fruit for the Soviet Union, synthetic rubber – 25,000 tonnes, potassium fertilisers – 83,000 tonnes.

These raw materials were called “dollar-bringing”, since they were all saleable on the West European markets. They constituted over 60% of our imports from Russia, or calculated in convertible rubles – over 4 billion. The remaining 40% of the imports consisted of light and heavy-freight vehicles, building machinery, raw materials and ready-made elements for our electronic industry, complementary parts, military installations, spare parts, investment equipment.

Our annual exports to the USSR included the following major products:

Mainly machinery, equipment and electronic output worth some 4.5 billion convertible rubles, i.e. a relative share of over 67%. Tobacco and cigarettes worth 500 million convertible rubles. Alcoholic beverages (bottled wine, cognac, etc.), fresh fruits (apples, cherries, strawberries, peaches, apricots, pears), foodstuffs (canned food, juices, etc), green-house products, cucumbers and tomatoes, textile articles – worth approximately 1 billion convertible rubles. Pharmaceutical end products – worth 400 million convertible rubles. Perfumes and cosmetics – creams, lipsticks, shampoos, tooth pastes, etc., worth some 500 million rubles. Soda ash – 500,000 tonnes. Belt conveyers, hoses and wallpaper worth roughly 20 million convertible rubles.

The above data clearly indicates that the structure of imports and exports between the two countries was in favour of Bulgaria. We lost all these positions due to our shortsighted policy towards the Soviet Union, and later towards Russia. Now the value of our exports to Russia can hardly reach 500 million US dollars. We are unable to pay for the imported products from Russia.

The Bulgarian total annual export to Russia exceeded 7 billion US dollars. The Russian export to Bulgaria also exceeded 7 billion US dollars.

Russia was our major foreign-trade partner – 62% of our foreign trade exchange was with Russia. Now Bulgaria’s total export to all countries is worth some 5.6 billion dollars, whereas the import – some 7.8 billion dollars.

The figures are telling enough.

This is the result of the shortsighted policy of the governments after 1990, which ruined the Bulgarian economy. Unfortunately, many years have been wasted. During that time the economic and cultural links between our two countries were severed, which encumbers the restoration of the centuries-long brotherly friendship between our nations. We hope that in our current relations a special role will be played by our countries’ affiliation to the general Slavic civilisation and hopefully the present and future governments of Bulgaria and Russia will make greater efforts to revive the disrupted links.