Foreign correspondent is a profession in its own right

Mr. Valeri Todorov Head of the Bulgarian National Television Correspondence Bureau in Moscow

Valeri Todorov was born in 1956 in Silistra. In 1974 he graduated the local high school – a specialized class in programming and computing mathematics. 1976-1981 he studied at the Faculty of Journalism in Sofia University. He was contributor to the national radio and the central press, permanent correspondent of Students’ Tribune newspaper and deputy editor-in-chief of the students’ paper Sofia University. In 1981 he started work in the International Information department of Horizont Program of the Bulgarian radio, where he was successively a literary collaborator, editor, commentator, senior reporter, chief editor, deputy editor-in-chief of the department. As an international journalist, he specialized in the problems of the USSR, Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as in all-European issues, disarmament. As a special correspondent, he covered the major events in Eastern Europe in the post-communist period – the first democratic elections in Hungary, Romania, Albania, Ukraine, the collapse of Yugoslavia, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact.

He is the author of TV documentaries about important phases in the development of Russia. In December 1992, Valeri Todorov won a competition and from January 1993 to October 1997 he was correspondent of the Bulgarian National Radio in Moscow. He covered on the spot the “hottest” events in Russia in this period – the tank clash outside the Russian Parliament, the war in Chechnya, the “black Tuesday” of the ruble, the referendum for a new Constitution, the general and presidential elections in Russia, the ethnic conflicts in CIS.

He is author and editor-in-charge of two journalistic books, of many publications in the Bulgarian and foreign press.

After his return from Moscow in October 1997, he was editor-in-charge and host of the evening review program Something More on Horizont, and then director of Horizont Program of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Since January 1999, he is head of the Bulgarian National Television Correspondence Bureau in Moscow and supernumerary correspond of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency. As an author, he has contributed to nearly all central newspapers and journals in Bulgaria, as well as to the regional press, radio and television. He is fluent in Russian, and speaks English and German.

Mr. Todorov, how do you assess the present diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Russia, 125 years after their establishment?
The diplomatic relations are at a high level, the political too, but the economic relations still suffer from the old diseases – too many promises, big hopes and little progress. We all see the reasons, but nobody can explain them. Historically we have always been looking towards Europe, but politically we set our hope on Russia. When you walk forward looking back, you may hit the post. We need a balanced strategy, so that we wouldn’t be turning our neck all the time.

How was our joining NATO and our participation in the international forces in Iraq received in Moscow?
10 million people live in Moscow and 150 million in all Russia. Different opinions were voiced. I may say the news was received calmly, although with some disappointment. For Russia the advance of NATO’s zone of security means getting farther away from its historical allies. Nobody is happy when his friends go visiting the neighbours and find no time for him. In the evening everybody goes home and sits in front of his TV. There the world is different. The same thing is with security – some feel more secure in the street, others – at home, still others – among friends. Russia feels more secure in CIS, we – in NATO. It’s normal. In politics friendship is an extra, but should not be a condition. This is the dictate of pragmatism.

There are emotions, of course. But if there is understanding, they do not bring chagrin. Because at night everybody goes to bed with his own fears. Our participation in the international forces in Iraq is our concern. Moscow took a different approach.

On May 27, President Putin appointed Anatoliy Potapov Ambassador of Russia to Bulgaria. Why did Vladimir Titov have to be replaced? What do you think of the new Russian ambassador to Bulgaria?
As the old books say, everything that has a beginning has an end. So is with the commissions abroad. However pleasant they may be, they come to an end. The replacing was not a reproach to the former ambassador nor a compliment to the new one. I think Vladimir Titov was a worthy, serious ambassador whose mission was in a difficult time. Anatoliy Potapov’s initial mission is easier. Already many parameters in the bilateral relations are clarified. It is clear where Bulgaria is going, what it is striving for, what the Bulgarians want. In the diplomatic missions, however, there are many troublesome turns. You think you know the road, and suddenly you encounter a hole in the middle. You have to react. The choice of personalities is often emblematic but not always decisive. Many hieroglyphs were drawn in the Bulgarian-Russian relations, which no one can decipher. And when you move in a labyrinth, what is the point of signs if they not lead to the exit.