The Bulgarian government has begun demolishing the iconic Soviet Army monument that has dominated much of the landscape in the centre of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, for nearly 70 years, a move the Russian Foreign Ministry says Bulgaria will later pay for.
“We are planning to hold a public procurement for the restoration of the monument, and then the figures will be exhibited in the Museum of Socialist Art”, Sofia’s regional governor, Sofia Vyara Todeva, has said.
The destruction of the monument, which is seen as an imperialist symbol of Soviet domination over Bulgaria, has been sought by the pro-European liberal section of Bulgarian society since the collapse of the totalitarian regime in 1989.
But Bulgaria’s move quickly angered Russia, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova making threats.
“Bulgaria again, as has happened more than once, chooses the wrong side of history. Bulgaria will have to fully pay the consequences of this shameful decision,” Zakharova commented on Facebook.
Bulgarian authorities have so far lacked the courage to take such a step, for fear of offending pro-Russian circles in the country and the Kremlin.
Despite the fact that the USSR unilaterally declared war on the neutral Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1944, there is a sign on the front of the monument: “To the liberators of the Soviet army – from the grateful Bulgarian people”.
Following World War II, the USSR occupied Bulgaria for over two years and helped establish a puppet totalitarian regime for the next 45 years. The official explanation given by the authorities for starting to dismantle the monument is that the statues are in a terrible condition and need to be removed for restoration.
But the decision to dismantle the monument was taken long before the monument was examined, and the state has no intention of returning the statues to their place after dismantling, despite protests from the Russian Embassy and Russophile parties. The Monument to the Soviet Army, also known in Sofia as the Monument to the Red Army of Occupation, is state property.
“There is currently an aggressive offensive against statehood, history and memory. Destructive processes are underway that instil division and intolerance in society,” said the rather pro-Russian president, Rumen Radev.
“We are witnessing the restoration of fascism in Bulgaria. These people who rule Bulgaria at the moment are neither Euro-Atlantic nor European. Their behaviour borders on barbarism, borders on fascism, borders on insanity,” the deputy from the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party Georgi Svilenski told bTV.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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