Bulgaria is waiting for you, brothers! Dedicated to the fraternal Bulgarian people. Klim Podkova: Bulgarian “traitor brothers”

A brief excursion into the history of relations between the Bulgarian state and Russia should begin with a consideration of the fate of Volga Bulgaria (or Bulgaria), a constant rival-ally of the ancient Russian princes. The ancestors of this Slavic people were one of the fragments of the Hun invasion. The once united people of Turkic origin was forced to split into two branches, which eventually turned out to be located three thousand kilometers from each other. One of them established itself in the Balkans and over time assimilated with the local Slavic population, adopting their language and culture, leaving memories of its genetic roots only in its own name. The other branch ended up in the northeast and eventually settled at the mouth of the Kama River, where they mixed with the indigenous Finnish tribes, but retained their language and customs. Thus, the structure of the Bulgarian linguistic system became the basis for the formation of the modern Chuvash language.

The next episode of Russian-Bulgarian relations can be considered the Southern Campaigns of the Old Russian Prince Svyatoslav, who invaded Bulgaria in 967 without encountering serious resistance. The warlike Rurikovich came to the Balkans not for booty, but with the clear intention of asserting his advantage in this densely populated and rich region. The prince had no intention of limiting himself to the conquest of Bulgaria, but was counting on further expansion, as evidenced by the construction of Pereyaslavts as an outpost for a subsequent large-scale invasion. But dreams of creating my own great empire was not destined to come true.

Monument to Prince Svyatoslav on the island of Khortitsa

It is worth noting that the central ideological message in Russian-Bulgarian relations (as well as in politics in the Balkans in general) was the idea of ​​​​restoring the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople as a “second Rome”, the implementation of which was designed by the geopolitical projects of many Russian tsars. At the end of the 15th century, Bulgaria was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, in return initially receiving the status of a vassal, and after the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, Sultan Bayezid I finally annexed Bulgaria to his state. The result of 500 years of Turkish rule was the widespread devastation of the country, a decrease in population, and the subordination of the autonomous Bulgarian Church Patriarch of Constantinople. Thus, Bulgaria found itself under the rule of a real yoke, which had previously led to the devastation of most of the Russian principalities.

In Bulgaria there are over 400 monuments to Russians who died in the Russian-Turkish war

In the 18th century, the power of the Turkish Sultan on the outskirtsThe empire begins to weaken, which both local authorities, who actually contributed to the country’s slide into anarchy, and foreign policy allies and patrons managed to take advantage of. In domestic policy Bulgaria is entering a period of Kurdzhaliism, named after the Kurdzhali bandits that kept the entire population of the country in fear. Many peasants were forced to flee from the countryside to the cities, and the wealthiest emigrated to the south of Russia, which was rapidly conquering living space. In parallel with the unfolding crisis processes in the power structure of the Bulgarian Principality, a period of revival begins in the cultural sphere, which led to the flourishing various types art, writing their own national history and the beginning of the liberation struggle against Turkish rule.

Bashibazouki

One of important stages Russian-Bulgarian relations that preceded the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 became the so-called “Greek project” of Catherine II, the idea of ​​which arose after the annexation of Crimea and the acquisition of the northern shore of the Black Sea. This was greatly facilitated by the archipelago naval expedition, as a result of which the Russian fleet for the first time was able to test its strength far from its borders, and through its military operations it helped separate Egypt from the Ottoman Empire. The capital of the Turkish state, Istanbul, was at the center of Catherine’s grandiose plans of conquest, which was to be restored to its original name “Constantinople” and its former strategic status. The Russian ruler was so inspired by this idea that she decided to name her grandson in honor of the first and last Byzantine emperor. Results of the next Russian-Turkish war Catherine was disappointed, and the great project to revive Byzantium remained a utopian undertaking.

Bulgaria fought against Russia in both world wars

The second liberation campaign against Constantinople was destined to take place already in the next century, during the famous Russian-Turkish war, undertaken during the reign of Alexander II. The war of 1877-1878 had not only geopolitical, but also important national significance for Russia: it was supposed to contribute to the socio-economic development of the southern regions of Russia, which found themselves in a difficult situation as a result of the Treaty of Paris, which put an end to the unsuccessful Crimean War. The Russian-Turkish strategic confrontation in the Balkans became the ideological basis for the formation of the national “Russian idea”, which managed to unite around itself representatives of civil society of various political views. The poet Nikolai Turoverov, reflecting on the reasons for the collapse of the Russian Empire, recalled the soldiers “who atoned for the Crimean shame with Russian blood in the Balkans.” The war seemed justified from the point of view of the internal liberation processes that took place in the regions subject to the Ottoman Empire, including Bulgaria. Here, in the summer of 1875, a general uprising of the Slavic population began with the goal of throwing off many years of Turkish oppression. The atrocities of the Bashi-Bazouks in Bulgaria, where over 30 thousand civilians were massacred in a short time, received wide resonance in Europe. Sympathy for the humiliated and destroyed Balkan Slavs, brothers in faith, has become main trend social thought- Almost the entire press and the top of the political elite spoke out for the speedy curbing of “Ottoman barbarism.”

Without dwelling in detail on each stage of military operations, it is worth noting the almost exemplary operation carried out by the Russian command to cross the Danube at the beginning of the war. Yes, according to expert assessments, the possible losses of the army should have ranged from 10 to 30 thousand people, but in fact the actual losses were minimal: 748 people were killed, drowned and wounded. In general, the initial rapid pace of the Russian advance through the Balkan Mountains in mid-July 1877 was lost, not without the influence of prolonged siege operations at Nikopol, Ruschuk and Plevna, as well as the traditional lack of strength and low level strategic planning. Historian A.B. Shirokorad remarks on this matter: “It was as if they were going to fight not with the huge Ottoman Empire, but with the Kingdom of Khiva.”

The march “Farewell of the Slav” was written out of sympathy for Bulgaria

Cases of real heroism among Russian soldiers and junior officers at Plevna are well known, but on the other side of the scale they are outweighed by the behavior of the generals. Contemporaries describe the constant neglect of military intelligence, the desire for excessive excesses even in front-line conditions, and deliberate inertia in the execution of inconvenient (“outrageous”) orders. This is how the image of a unique collective “General Skalozub” emerged, which was especially clearly dissonant with the bloody phenomenon of Plevna. After the capture of the fortress of Adrianople in January 1878, the path to Constantinople was open - the long-standing dream of all Russian rulers, starting from Oleg and Svyatoslav, had every chance of coming true. Every Russian soldier was eager to re-install the Orthodox cross over the dome of the coveted Hagia Sophia, converted by the Turks into a mosque. However, Alexander II did not dare to give the final order, and in the town of San Stefano, 10 versts west of Constantinople, on February 19, 1878, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

Capture of Plevna by Russian troops

The main beneficiary of the Russian-Turkish war under the Treaty of San Stefano was Bulgaria. A completely new state, made up of Bulgarian vilayets (districts) of the Ottoman Empire, with the stroke of the pen of the author of the peace treaty, Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev, was given a huge territory - from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and from the Black Sea to Lake Ohrid. In addition, some territories in Moesia, Macedonia and Thrace, populated by ethnic Bulgarians, were transferred under the jurisdiction of “Great Bulgaria” (as the new state was immediately “christened”). The creation of such a large state, which could potentially pose a serious threat, caused a storm of indignation among neighboring countries: Serbia, Romania, Greece and, of course, Austria-Hungary.

This open “pro-Bulgarian” policy of the Russian state did not bring any significant results. On the one hand, Russia's diplomatic capabilities in the Balkan region decreased, which led to the increased influence of Austria-Hungary and the open territorial claims of the metropolis for colonial acquisitions. Another recent Russian ally, Romania, immediately turned into an enemy, and the desperately supported Bulgaria took the anti-Russian side in both the First World War and the Second. Thus, Russian empire played a very significant role in the formation of the famous “knot of contradictions” in the Balkans, which could only be cut through military means.

Russian command near Plevna

In June 1878, an international congress was held in Berlin to revise the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano. As a result, through the combined efforts of the “European pack,” as General M.D. Skobelev so bluntly called the Berlin Congress, all the most “tasty” pieces were taken away from the “Russian bear.” The failed “Great Bulgaria” was divided into three parts, and only the central part received the status of a Bulgarian autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire. The Bulgarians themselves were now forced to pay an annual tribute to Turkey. The lands of Macedonia - from the Adriatic and the Aegean Sea - were returned to the Turks. From part of the Bulgarian lands, the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia was created, administratively subordinate to Constantinople. The author of the Treaty of San Stefano, Count Ignatiev, resigned, and the then Chancellor Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov wrote to Emperor Alexander II: “The Berlin Treaty is the blackest page in my career.”

Photos from open sources

If it is possible to apply the concept of “black ingratitude” in such an openly cynical area as geopolitics, then Bulgaria can undoubtedly serve as such a standard (at least in relation to Russia). Liberated (and repeatedly!) from foreign occupation at the cost of many Russian lives, saved by Russian blood from genocide, striving to join the USSR “be it as a carcass or as a scarecrow,” “brotherly” Bulgaria today is gladly ready to participate in any anti-Russian abomination.

Little Bulgaria, which achieved great “prosperity” in the European Union, was allowed to “steer” a little. That is, to chair the Council of Europe for six months from January 1, 2018. And what did the permanent representative of this country to the EU, Ambassador Dimiter Tsantchev, note at the very beginning of this presidency? Vivid Russophobic statements...

When asked what policy the Bulgarian presidency will continue regarding sanctions for the Russian Federation (especially considering that the president of the state speaks out about the advisability of lifting economic sanctions from the Russian Federation), Tsanchev immediately answered as an exemplary “European pioneer”:

“We will adhere to the five principles regarding relations with Russia that were approved by the Council in March 2016. An important condition To change the EU's relations with Russia is the full implementation of the Minsk agreements by all parties to the conflict. Now this condition has not been met!"

And then he continued to “scratch”, as usual, according to the European Union-NATO “cheat sheet”: they say, "...The EU insists that Russia respect international law."(And she, go ahead, doesn’t respect her!), Brussels. one might say, with tender trepidation "...counts on the Normandy format, the implementation of the Minsk agreements..."(What does Russia have to do with it anyway?!), and the stumbling block here is “The withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line,” which “is absolutely necessary.”

Tsantchev knows exactly what is going on there in Donbass and who is to blame for it! He knows everything for certain about both heavy weapons and the Minsk agreements. For some reason, the Bulgarian diplomat does not say a word about the role of Ukraine in the constant breakdowns of Minsk. And also that Bulgaria has long been convicted of supplying weapons to the Kyiv junta - precisely the weapons with which it is shooting at Donbass, not caring about any and all “agreements” and “contact groups!” Obviously, Mr. Tsantchev professes the principle that is very popular in Western diplomacy today: “your own doesn’t stink”...

No less clearly than strange amnesia, this “diplomat” demonstrates refined hypocrisy - if you listen to him, then Bulgaria is ready to “work to improve relations with the Russian Federation if the situation changes.” But he laments. only, without shedding crocodile tears, Tsantchev, “there are no conditions for this yet”... what a pity! How can we live without her, without such a “brotherly” Bulgaria?!

So that no one has any doubts that these are not situational and spontaneous statements, but precisely the POSITION of Bulgaria at the state level, let me briefly recall the history of this country’s participation in the sanctions “movement” against Russia. Remind the main milestones, so to speak. In February 2015, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said:

“Sanctions are not just the position of the EU, it is also the position of Bulgaria. We defend international law - no one can annex the territory of another country, no one can destabilize a neighbor through military means. We will continue to focus on sanctions as the only instrument of European influence on Russian policy. "

By the way, then this figure clarified that sanctions are being introduced by the European Union, and Bulgaria in particular... “so as not to fight with Russia”! Yes, Bulgaria. falling with all its might on Russia... it would be interesting to see!

In March 2015, the same Mitov, continuing to jump out of his own trousers, already said that Bulgaria was ready to “broaden and deepen” anti-Russian sanctions:

"Sanctions are the only tool that the European Union and the transatlantic community have at the moment. Of course, we are ready to react accordingly if the peace agreement in Donbass is violated."

It is not for nothing that in 2016 Bulgaria “received” gratitude from the main executioner of Ukraine and Donbass - Poroshenko. On this occasion, the press secretary of the president of the “nnezadezhnaya” Svyatoslav Tsegolko even tweeted: “President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko thanked Bulgaria for supporting the extension of sanctions against the Russian Federation for failure to comply with Minsk.

And here are the words of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, again spoken in 2016:

“We all decided to leave sanctions against Russia in force until the Minsk agreements are implemented. And it will be possible to talk about new sanctions against Russia only if the bombing in Syria, which is killing civilians, does not stop.”

That is, the topic of Donbass was not enough for this clown - he decided to “remember Russia” and also Syria. Probably the Syrians really irritate the Bulgarians - in terms of gratitude, (elementary, human), to the Russian soldiers who give their lives for their freedom, these residents of the Middle East can give our “Slavic brothers” from Bulgaria not even a hundred, but a hundred thousand points in advance.

By the way, for their “fresh” Russophobia, the Bulgarians were also congratulated by the ghoul Poroshenko (the pinnacle of shame for normal people!):

“I congratulate our reliable partner - Bulgaria - on the start of the first presidency of the Council of the European Union in the history of this state. I look forward to progress in our ambitious agenda: deepening the political association and economic integration of Ukraine with the EU, as well as strengthening EU support in restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Our strength lies in unity!"- Poroshenko wrote.

Well, there is absolutely nothing surprising here. Let me remind you, in case anyone has forgotten, that in two World Wars Bulgaria fought against Russia and the USSR. Well, “fought” - that’s it. Of course, it is said loudly, but officially it belonged to military alliances hostile to us. The blood of Russian soldiers shed at Shipka and Plevna, the soulful song about Alyosha standing on the mound - “Bulgaria's Russian soldier” - all this has long been forgotten and trampled into the dirt for the sake of a momentary and extremely dubious political situation.

The only thing that needs to be done about all this is to firmly remember the REAL attitude of the Bulgarians towards the Russians. So that again, having forgotten, you won’t feel emotional when they once again come running to ask to be “brothers”.

Alexander Neukropny specially for Planet Today

Bulgarians truly revere the blessed memory of their dear brothers. In every church in Bulgaria on this day they pray and remember the names of the liberators. The Bulgarians have not forgotten these names.

We, Russians, have forgotten them!..

How wonderfully enthusiastic this amazing word “bra-tush-ka” sounds with the emphasis on the second syllable in the Bulgarian language! Warm, soft and gentle, conveying all the love for Russians.

A long time ago I learned from the Bulgarians that they absorb love for our people with their mother’s milk. Maybe it would be more correct to say, they absorbed...

It’s sad to talk about this, but in the memory of the people there will remain forever those Russians who in 1876-1878 helped to throw off the yoke of centuries-old Ottoman oppression, who left behind thousands of graves of soldiers who died for the freedom of Bulgaria, whose mothers and widows erected majestic monuments on this long-suffering land. churches in memory of Russian soldiers-liberators.

Other Russians, who even though they liberated Bulgaria - already from fascism - and also died in battle, like our Alyosha, towering on a hill above the beautiful Plovdiv - left a slightly different memory. They closed churches, taught unbelief, implanted atheism in a fraternal country, set an example of godlessness...

This is such a strange thing - history. Thank God, they continue to love us faithfully and tenderly, remembering only the good. I'm talking about ordinary people, and with them I shared both a crust of bread and a sumptuous meal for very long years. I either came to this country every year or lived for several years, in general, for me it is almost my native land.

Sofia. Arrival of pilgrims from Russia

When pilgrims Father Andrei Khramov and parishioner of the Epiphany Cathedral Olga Nikolaevna Skripkina came to Bulgaria at the invitation of the priest from Plovdiv, Father Emil Paralingov, from the city of Vyshny Volochek, we were greeted as if all of Bulgaria was waiting for the day of the arrival of a simple Russian priest and a simple Russian woman... However, why? would it not?

After all, we are always waiting for our Orthodox brothers to come to Russia!

In Sofia, the journalist of the “Church Herald” Alexandra Karamikhaleva and

faithful assistant to Archpriest Emil Paralingov, subdeacon Ivan Karshev.

They showed Sofia to Father Andrey and Olga Nikolaevna, who visited Bulgaria for the first time, but from the very first minutes of their stay in this country they felt the warmth, brotherly love and care of our friends.

And now we are already in the very heart of the Bulgarian capital and we see the amazing temple-monument of Alexander Nevsky, striking in its size.

Another meeting awaits us there. Former Bulgarian Ambassador to Slovakia, professor at Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski” Ivan Slavov came to meet our guests and tell them about his love for Russia.

I tell pilgrims that the main temple of Bulgaria - the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Russian Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Sofia on Liberation Day cannot accommodate everyone.

Let's go in. Shocked by the beauty and grandeur of the temple. There aren't very many people.

An elderly Georgian quietly repeats prayers in his own language - his great-grandfather died in Bulgaria for its liberation. Grenadier, infantry, and cavalry regiments, Don and Terek Cossack regiments, one hundred Ural Cossack troops, naval units, pontoon, engineer battalions, gendarmerie squadrons, Uhlan, dragoon, ataman regiments, and other warriors from all the outskirts of the great Great Patriotic War fought here. and mighty Russia.

I am again talking about how Russian soldiers of liberation are commemorated in Bulgaria every year on March 3, how prayers for Russia are heard in every church. Like a funeral groan over Shipka and Plevna. The fiercest fighting took place there. There are Russian churches there, built, like the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, by widows and mothers of fallen Russian soldiers with funds raised in Russia...

In every Bulgarian home the memory of our soldiers is honored. In every city in Bulgaria, the streets of the cities are full of Russian names: st. Tsar Osvoboditel, st. Prince Tsereteli, st. General Gurko, st. General Radetsky, st. Prince Vyazemsky, st. General Skobelev, st. Totlebena, st. Adjutant General of Prince Nikolai Ivanovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky...

The Russian Tsar-Liberator Alexander II is remembered at all services, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder, commander-in-chief of the Danube Army, and his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich are remembered. They commemorate not only soldiers, but also sisters of mercy Baroness Vrevskaya, T. Tolbukhina, V. Novikova, S.S. Stepanov, A. Moroz, A. Sapphirskaya, A.A. Nikolskaya and all those who did not spare their lives in the battles for the liberation of Bulgaria.

Special correspondent of the English newspaper "Daily News" J.-A. McGahan wrote about the atrocities of the Turks in Bulgaria and the bravery of Russian soldiers. When you read his lines, your hair stands on end. In June 1876, the publisher of the Daily News sent McGahan to Bulgaria to investigate the horrors that were committed against the Bulgarians during the Ottoman yoke. McGahan traveled throughout the country devastated by the Turks, questioned those who survived, and described in vivid colors the plight of the Bulgarians. Before the facts collected by a truthful correspondent, objections to Russia's armed intervention in the fate of the Balkan Slavs fell silent. During the war of 1877-78. McGahan accompanied the Russian army, was present at the first battle of the Russians with the Turks and when our troops crossed the Danube; Despite the broken leg, he joined the detachment of General Gurko, walked ahead with General Skobelev, and lay in the trenches four times, sick with fever. His correspondence dating back to this era describes in detail the actions of the Russian army, from the battle near Shipka to the capture of Plevna. During peace negotiations, McGahan died of typhus in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1878. He was married to a Russian woman, Varvara Nikolaevna Elagina, a correspondent for Russian, American and even Australian newspapers. The journalist died early, but managed to do a lot for the liberation of the Bulgarian people.

The artist Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin went through the entire war with General Mikhail Skobelev, and his canvases tell us without words about the horrors that our soldiers experienced...

What names, what holiness! Low bow to all those who returned freedom to the fraternal people. We, Russian pilgrims, on the holy Bulgarian land saw with our own eyes how carefully the memory of our ancestors is preserved here...

I told the Russian pilgrims dear to my heart about this and many other things, and with tears in their eyes they prayed for both the fallen Bulgarian brothers and the Russian heroes.

Let us also bow our heads before their blessed memory!

Spring in Bulgaria

Orthodox pilgrims from Greece and Russia, from Georgia and Macedonia strive to come to Bulgaria on March 3 to honor the memory of the Bulgarian and Russian brothers who gave their lives for the liberation of the Orthodox Bulgarian people from the Ottoman yoke.

Every year, the now deceased Metropolitan of Plovdiv Arseniy served a memorial service. Vladyka Arseny was buried in the courtyard of the Church of the Assumption Holy Mother of God in Plovdiv. On the temple, erected in honor of the fallen Russian soldiers, the inscription in Russian is clearly visible: “In memory of the liberators.”

The grave of Metropolitan Arseny is located among the graves of Russian soldiers buried in the courtyard of the temple back in 1878. Isn't this symbolic?

On March 3, 2008 and 2009, the new Metropolitan of Plovdiv, Nicholas, celebrated requiem services.

According to established tradition, two priests, Father Milen Nedev and Father Emil Paralingov, serve a memorial service near another mass grave of Russian soldiers.

And words of gratitude to the Russian soldiers are heard in all Bulgarian churches.

And tears well up in the eyes of the parishioners. On this day, priests talk about the feat of the Russian people. And people in churches stand with their heads bowed...

Plovdiv. Walk through the Old Town

But now our dear pilgrims from Russia have arrived in ancient Plovdiv.

Former capital Bulgaria, which remembers both the Romans and the Greeks, which was called Philippolis in honor of Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, and on the Main Street of Plovdiv there is a monument to Philip...

It is impossible to imagine Plovdiv without the Old Town.

Local residents will be happy to show all travelers coming to ancient Plovdiv how to get to the Old Town, which Plovdiv residents incredibly love. Plovdiv is located on seven hills, on one of which the streets of the Old Town flow down to the foot of the hill.

It rises majestically above the central part of the second Bulgarian capital, under the Roman amphitheater there is a tunnel leading traffic flow to the Maritsa River, and then, through the bridge dividing the city into two parts, to the International Fair.

And now both Father Andrei Khramov from the Tver region and parishioner from the Epiphany Cathedral in the city of Vyshny Volochek Olga Nikolaevna Skripkina set foot on the Roman paving stones of the Old City. We begin our pilgrimage journey through the temples located in the oldest part of Plovdiv.

Our path lies to the Mitopolis temple in the name of St. Marina, from here we will begin our walk through the Old City. This church was built back in late XVIII century, during the Ottoman yoke, but due to the enormous restrictions imposed by the Ottoman authorities, it began to quickly fall into disrepair. Funds for the restoration, or rather, for the construction of a new temple, dearly loved by the townspeople and residents of the cities and villages around Plovdiv, were collected by the entire population of the Plovdiv diocese. The construction of the temple was completed in 1856 under the leadership of the famous Thracian master from Bratsigovo Nikola Tomchev Ustabashisky. Since then, this marvelous white temple, decorated with blue ornaments, has been a constant place of worship for many pilgrims coming from many countries of the world.

For me, Plovdiv has long ago become a native and close city. I happily wander through its squares and streets, say hello to friends, smile at children and old people,

I feel good here, I belong here...

But both Father Andrei and Olga Nikolaevna Skripkina immediately felt at home in Bulgaria. This is our native country. It’s just amazing how dear it is!!!

Together with us, a wonderful man, father, friend of Russia, Father Milen Nedev, as well as journalist and photojournalist, philologist by training, Stoil Vladikov, who speaks Russian and has many talents, is rising to the Old City.

We walk and walk through the Old Town, Stoil continuously takes pictures, and every house here smiles at us with its unique smile.

We are waiting for a meeting with ancient churches restored at the end of the 19th century, and Father Milen tells us that the beginning of the restoration of the temples of the ancient city was facilitated by the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, when Russia established itself in the role of protector of the Orthodox peoples in the Ottoman Empire.

There were still a long half century left before the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke, but twelve Orthodox churches, of which eight have survived to this day virtually unchanged.

This time we did not go either to the cathedral church in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or to the former Russian church “St. Dimitar”. Our path lies to the temples of “Constantine and Helena” and the temple “St. Week”, built simultaneously in 1830-1832 on the site of medieval churches.

And these churches, like the Church of St. Marina, were built by a master from Bratsigovo, but by a different one - both of these churches were built by Petko Petkov-Boz.

We walk through the amazing streets of this “city within a city”, go down to the “Monday Bazaar”, where in ancient times they traded only on Mondays, as in the Kichuk-Paris (little Paris) area, there is a “Saturday Bazaar”, where trading took place only on Saturdays. Not far from the Main Street, the “Thursday Bazaar” market is noisy, and each of these bazaars delights residents with the diversity of colors, but upsets... upsets, as throughout the world, with prices.

But let's return to the Old City. From the Monday Bazaar we will walk to McGahan Street, named after the Daily News correspondent who told the world about the atrocities of the Turks, and then we will climb the steep steps to the ancient temple of St. Paraskeva leaning against the rock, of which you are the rector. You already know, Archpriest Emil Paralingov is.

This amazing country has amazing people. There were so many wonderful meetings that day. And all the people, as one, said that they loved their brothers - that’s what they continue to affectionately call us, the descendants of Russian soldiers who fought for the liberation of the long-suffering Bulgarian people from the Turkish yoke.

Unexpectedly, Stoyil Vladikov offered to take us in his jeep through the Rhodope Mountains, and we happily and gratefully agreed.

Having taken the blessing from Father Emil and Father Milen, we set off.

Hello mountains! We are going to another part of Bulgaria, to a quiet and peaceful one, with terrible abysses and mountain streams, with friendly residents ready to hug and caress us.

We did not yet know at that moment that we would have meetings with dear priest, Hieromonk Antim, abbot of the Krichimsky monastery, that we would get almost to the border with Greece, visit churches in Shirokaya Laka and Chepelare, that we would be able to venerate the holy icons of the Bachkovo monastery, erected in the heart of Bulgaria by the Georgian princes, the Bakuriani brothers, that we will be able to admire the fortress of King Asen over the city of temples and monasteries - Asenovgrad, which Father Andrei will love very much, and only then will we return to Plovdiv, so ancient and so young. Everything was ahead.

Krichim Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

When Father Antim saw our small group on the threshold of his monastery in the mountains, he was infinitely happy. While Stoil and I regularly come to see him, Father Andrei and Olga Skripkina were here for the first time. They had already heard about the monastery and about Hieromonk Antim, who lives completely alone in the monastery in the mountains, but the Lord sent them for the first time to meet with the amazing kindness of the priest.

Hugs, settling us into the cells that the priest had prepared for our arrival, prayers in the temple, meals in the garden, from where you can see mountains and again mountains, and clouds over the mountains, and on one of the peaks - a stone boulder resembling an eagle. It was earlier that they saw an eagle in him. That's what everyone called him. But Father Andrei and Olga Nikolaevna instantly recognized him as a bent monk, somewhat reminiscent of the Venerable Nile of Stolobensky.

Since then, Father Antim calls this boulder a Russian monk.

The priest now has many Russian icons in the temple - donations from our pilgrims.

And he is so glad that he has us.

When Costil brings me alone to the priest, he asks with sadness in his voice, where is Father Andrei and why Olenka Skripkina, who has become near and dear to him, did not come. One day, when Skripkina called me from Russia, I was just visiting Father Antim. He picked up the phone. His voice trembled, there were tears in his eyes: “Come, Olenka,” was all he could say.

Father built a new cell for Father Andrei and other priests from Russia. He is looking forward to all of us. It was he who said so touchingly and heartfeltly: “Bulgaria is waiting for you, brothers!”

Everything in the monastery reminds our dear priest of Russian pilgrims. Here are the figs near the temple, from which Olga Nikolaevna collected fruits for the first time in her life, laughing, surprised, rejoicing. Figs in Bulgaria are called “smukinya” (fig). We ate this ripe, soft, tasty flour with enormous pleasure...

Now Father Antim never stops repeating: “Olenka will come, she will pick the mukini and rejoice like a little child!”

The goats in the pen again remind him of Russian pilgrims, because we gave them bread. They brought treats to the dog Polichka, pampered the black cat, talked with the sheep, marveling at the fact that Father Antim alone manages all his animals, makes very tasty cheese from goat’s milk, cooks fiery stews from lentils and beans, bakes bread, makes jam... Fairy tale, and that's all!

This year the winter in Bulgaria unexpectedly turned out to be both blizzard and snowy.

The road to the monastery was blocked; the priest was completely alone. He says that he was warmed by the thought that the Russians would come again, and not only those he had, but also others for whom he prays. I gave him a lot of notes from Russia.

And every day in the mountains the prayer of the Bulgarian priest for the Russian people rushes to the Lord... About Russia. He's waiting for us. Always waiting...

The road among the rocks still leads to Plovdiv

Our trips to Haskovo and other cities, to the Bachkovo Monastery will serve for the following stories about Bulgaria. And now we will return to Plovdiv again.

Father Emil and Mother Anna are waiting for us to visit for a meal, and little Vaiya, their daughter, named after Palm Sunday, the day of her appearance in the Light of God, she will immediately ask to be held by Father Andrei and will never want to get off his hands.

Mother Anna showed us icons that she painted with her own hand; she is a zographer, an icon painter. Meals, conversations with Father Emil, games with children, Vaechka and her older brother Stefan, make our pilgrims forget that they are visiting a foreign country...

And can Bulgaria be called a foreign country???

Again and again our dear friend Stoil will take us around Bulgaria. He just knows every corner of it. We will celebrate my birthday in the Old Town in a small restaurant, and all those priests with whom our father Andrei served in concelebration in Bulgaria will sing “many years to me,” and Olga Skripkina and I will shed tears of excitement... All this was. It is impossible to erase these days from memory.

Father Andrei had long since left Bulgaria, and over Plovdiv there was a huge poster-photo panorama, which depicted a simple Russian priest - Father Andrei Khramov, ringing the bell of a chapel high in the mountains and seeming to be soaring over Bulgaria...

This was a personal exhibition of Orthodox photojournalist Stoil Vladikov in Plovdiv.

Spring is coming... Isn't it time to go to Bulgaria, my dears?

11/12/2014 Russia announced the termination of construction of the South Stream gas pipeline. The reason is the freezing of the project by Bulgaria, into whose territory the gas pipeline was supposed to exit from the Black Sea. This summer, Bulgaria joined economic sanctions against Russia, and part of these sanctions was the boycott of the construction of South Stream.

It was clear that President Vladimir Putin was very irritated by the position of the Bulgarian side. According to him, the Bulgarian rulers spent a long time convincing Moscow that this project would never be frozen, despite any pressure from Western countries unfriendly to Russia - this is understandable, because the project promised enormous benefits for Bulgaria, estimated in revenues of 400 - 700 million euros per year. year. However, in reality the Bulgarians behaved completely differently.

As soon as relations between Russia and the European Union worsened due to the events in Ukraine, as soon as the American Russophobe Senator Dojon McCain visited Sofia, the Bulgarians, like petty and vile mongrels, immediately raised an anti-Russian howl and quickly curtailed the construction of the gas pipeline. Not only that, they also demonstratively dismantled the symbolic pipes, which last year were solemnly installed in the place where the pipeline was supposed to begin its journey across Bulgarian soil. These pipes were cut and taken to a landfill.

It is not for nothing that Vladimir Putin, when he announced the liquidation of the project, loudly doubted that Bulgaria is a truly sovereign country, capable of making independent and beneficial, primarily for itself, decisions...

Did the Russian soldier die for them in vain?

However, for specialists in this country, nothing out of the ordinary happened. In particular, Doctor of Historical Sciences Andrei Ivanov told Internet readers that what happened with South Stream has its own long-standing, historically established logic. In particular, Ivanov notes:

“Almost every book, article or brochure dedicated to Bulgaria reports on many years of close friendly ties between our two fraternal countries. But, despite this popular opinion, which was especially firmly established in the late Soviet period, in reality relations between Russia and Bulgaria were not always cloudless, and the current crisis is another and clear confirmation of this.”

Ivanov writes that for almost 500 years Bulgaria was under the Ottoman yoke, from which it was liberated by the Russian army during the war with Turkey in 1877-1878. The mood of Russian society at that time was more than Bulgarian-phile; the liberated Bulgarians were seen exclusively as “brothers” who would forever be bound by friendly ties with Russia. Only a few Russian conservatives turned out to be free from these illusions, approaching the Slavic question without excessive sentimentality.

Thus, the outstanding Russian philosopher and diplomat of the 19th century, Konstantin Leontyev, in an article with the characteristic title “Our Bulgarians,” was indignant at the fact that “only the Bulgarians are always right, always oppressed, always unhappy, always meek and sweet, always victims and never oppressors.” ”, and “for some reason all Bulgarian interests were considered directly Russian interests; all enemies of the Bulgarians are our enemies.” Leontyev quite rightly believed that as soon as Ottoman rule on Bulgarian soil was overthrown, the Bulgarians would immediately turn not to Russia, but to Western Europe: “the destructive effect of liberal Europeanism will be much stronger for the Bulgarians.”

Fyodor Dostoevsky was of approximately the same opinion, noting in 1877:

“...According to my inner conviction, the most complete and irresistible, Russia will not, and never has had, such haters, envious people, slanderers and even outright enemies as all these Slavic tribes, as soon as Russia liberates them, and Europe will agree to recognize them as liberated!”

Fyodor Mikhailovich prophetically warned that the “liberated” Slavs (and above all the Bulgarians) would immediately rush into the arms of Europe “and convince themselves that they do not owe Russia the slightest gratitude, on the contrary, that they barely escaped from Russia’s lust for power at the conclusion of peace intervention of the European concert."

“Perhaps for a whole century, or even more, they will continuously tremble for their freedom and fear Russia’s lust for power; they will curry favor with European states, they will slander Russia, gossip about it and intrigue against it,” the great writer predicted and, unfortunately, he was not mistaken...

Relations between Russia and Bulgaria, Professor Ivanov points out, deteriorated already under Emperor Alexander III. There was a reorientation of Bulgaria towards Austria-Hungary, and the Austrian German Ferdinand Coburg was elected as Bulgarian Tsar. As Leontyev and Dostoevsky warned, the good deeds of Russia were very quickly forgotten, and Bulgaria turned into an instrument of intrigue for Austria-Hungary and Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century, Professor P.I. Kovalevsky bitterly admitted that through constant intercession we only achieved “that all these Slavic brothers of ours looked at us as their obligated farm laborers. As soon as someone harms them, Russia should help them out. If it helps, so be it. In gratitude, the same brothers who helped out will kick this stupid Russia..."

Therefore, Bulgaria’s participation on the side of Russia’s enemies during the First World War was literally predetermined. According to Professor Ivanov:

“Maintaining crafty neutrality in 1914, the Bulgarian government provided assistance to Germany, and in October 1915, seeing that the scales began to tip in favor of Berlin, it openly sided with the Germans, Austrians and its yesterday’s oppressors the Turks, delivering a treacherous stab in the back of the allied Russia Serbia. This caused a violent outburst of indignation in Russian society. “Cunning Bulgarian foxes”, “Balkan adventurers”, “German serfs”, “shame of the Slavic family” - these and other nicknames were awarded to the newspapers of yesterday’s “brothers” in 1915. What was especially indignant was that Bulgaria not only opposed its liberator Russia, but that the Bulgarians found themselves in an alliance with Turkey, “which for five centuries kept her in humiliating slavery, beat her population, raped her women, desecrated her temples.” .

Bulgaria was among Russia’s opponents during the Second World War. Having refused to accept the USSR proposal to conclude a Soviet-Bulgarian friendship treaty and mutual assistance, Sofia concluded a protocol in 1941 on the deployment of German troops on Bulgarian territory, and then joined the Berlin Pact. Only the successes of the Soviet army, which entered the territory of Bulgaria in September 1944, forced it to leave the war and, after a coup d’etat, become an ally of the USSR.”

It must be said that the time Bulgaria was in the socialist camp became the time of real prosperity for this country - the standard of living there was considered one of the highest in Europe. Experts indicate:

“The USSR was very active in helping the Bulgarian economy. Thus, in the period 1970-1982, due to the expansion of trade with the USSR, more than 54% of the total increase in Bulgaria’s foreign trade turnover was achieved. Due to supplies from the USSR, Bulgaria's needs for natural gas and iron ore, 98% in electricity and coal, 94.6% in timber, etc. The entire scientific and technical potential of Bulgaria was created with the decisive participation of the USSR. Bulgaria has constantly had the opportunity to use the experience and achievements of our science and technology and introduce them into its economy.”

But as soon as Soviet Union problems arose, as the Bulgarians traditionally immediately went over to the side of the enemies of Russia...

In today's Bulgaria there is a real revaluation of values. As Russian researcher Oksana Petrovskaya writes in one of her articles, in the 90s of the last century the history of Bulgarian-Soviet relations began to be presented exclusively in a negative way. Anti-Sovietism gradually turned into Russophobia. Russia’s role in the liberation of the Bulgarians from the Turkish yoke also underwent “rethinking”:

“Modern Bulgarian historians are making attempts to shift the blame for the dismemberment of Bulgarian lands at the Berlin Congress of 1878, which allegedly saved Bulgaria “from the bear hug of the liberators,” onto Russian diplomacy. There were even regrets expressed about the fact that it was the USSR that liberated Bulgaria from fascism, and the question of Soviet responsibility before the country was even raised.

In the wake of Russophobia, the attitude of Bulgarians towards their Slavic identity began to change. In the process of actively searching in their past for what supposedly prevents the Bulgarians from becoming Europeans, even a version of the ethnogenesis of this people and their statehood in the early Middle Ages appeared. The main goal of this version is to prove the non-Slavic origin of the Bulgarians. At the same time, the “test for Europeanness” demanded reconciliation with the “Turkish yoke”, replacing this term with a tolerant “Ottoman presence”. The topic of the fight against the Turkish conquerors has now been removed from the media, and among the “advanced to Europe” public there was even an initiative to erect a monument to the Turkish soldiers who fell on Shipka” (?!).

I will add that Bulgaria is one of those vile places in Europe where they regularly mock monuments to Soviet soldiers, painting them in clown colors (see the picture to our text). Local authorities try not to notice these “incidents”...

This is not the power of the people

It is noteworthy that during the period of its stay in the EU, Bulgaria itself dropped almost to the level of Africa in terms of its economic level. Moreover, today there is an urgent question about the future of the Bulgarians as a nation! Here is one typical testimony that is now very popular among Internet users:

Do you want to know what life is like within the European Union? Go to Bulgaria. Just not on vacation to walk along the embankment from restaurant to restaurant. This is a mask - this is a facade. Travel a little, a few tens of kilometers, inland. You will see the ruins of factories, you will see the poverty that reigns around. You will see an economy crushed by the European Union, you will see people who are trying in vain to find a job...

What you won’t see are happy young people, since some of them left temporarily to work, while others left forever. It seems that there is freedom of speech, and you can scold the government, but not too much - so that there are no problems at work. And if, God forbid, you still use the words Russia, Putin, mark the time: in a week you will receive a “wolf ticket” to nowhere. They will immediately brand you a spy, an accomplice, and accuse you of all mortal sins.

It seems that the borders are open - you can go on vacation to Western Europe, but who will go? Unemployment at 18%, which the authorities cheerfully report, is a blatant lie! In reality, twice as much! At least one in four able-bodied people cannot find a job. Those who can leave, since the borders are open. But who are they there? Maybe managers, technologists, engineers?.. No, they are unskilled workers, dishwashers. Guest workers! This is what the European Union gave us - the opportunity to leave without a visa to engage in unskilled labor.

Yes, we joined the European Union, but the European Union did not join us. We still have the same corrupt government, the same corrupt officials, coupled with strict standards, rules, and methods of the European Union. We found ourselves destroyed, crushed by the European Union. Yes, they give us some tranches for development, but no one knows where this money goes. Everything ends up in the pockets of officials, and even if it gets somewhere, it is only for “their own” and for “their” projects.

The incompetent government obtained loans from the IMF, which began to dictate its new economic policy. Were imposed harsh conditions, which ultimately destroyed the country's economy.

The entire industry was methodically destroyed, everything possible was privatized for next to nothing and cut into scrap metal. Completely destroyed Agriculture. The higher education system has been destroyed. There has been a proliferation of universities that issue diplomas for a bribe. higher education. All we can offer for export is cheap unskilled labor.

In Bulgaria, the population decreased from 9 million to 7. Young couples stopped having children. Those who can leave. There is a generation gap. A huge number of people work in the West. Children are raised by grandparents. Children don't see their parents. This is the price that Bulgaria paid for the EU.

We wanted a different life, but not like this. We were cruelly deceived. We were dragged into this EU without asking the people. We are being bombarded with Western propaganda. We hoped that by joining the EU we would live better. No! Life has become unbearable!

Joining the EU was beneficial for a bunch of oligarchs who made money from squandering National economy. Very few people live well in Bulgaria. Most barely make ends meet...

The young, talented and stubborn pack their things and run away without looking back, leaving the old people to die in the villages. The north of the country, where unemployment is (according to official data) 60% (!), is depopulated. Rare tourists compare it with the Chernobyl zone. Over the past 20 years, 2 million people have left the country. The country has lost more people than in two world wars, but this is not the limit. The economic crisis coincided with a demographic catastrophe of terrifying proportions. By 2060, the population of Bulgaria will be only 5 million people, of which 1.5 million are Roma. The Bulgarians, as a single people with an ancient Orthodox culture, are doomed.

“Last year only 62,000 children were born,” says TV journalist Ivo Hristov. — This is the lowest birth rate since 1945. Bulgaria is melting faster than any European country. Worse result only in Estonia. In its entire 1,300-year history, our country has never been so close to collapse."

In the early 90s, when the USSR empire was collapsing and the Eastern European bloc was falling apart, CAPITAL watched the process closely and triumphantly with cold, greedy eyes. New exciting prospects opened up for the monopolies. First, the financial crisis was delayed for twenty years. Secondly, the collapse of the Iron Curtain opened the way to global domination of the oligarchy under the guise of “globalization” and “free market” (the so-called “Washington Consensus” of 1989).

The owners of transnational corporations rubbed their hands with pleasure and anticipation - before them lay vast, defenseless territories with a naive population, fooled by slogans about freedom. The plan of the oligarchy was simple, like the plan of some conqueror like Attila: the territory was to be seized, conquered, humiliated, ruined, sucked dry of all the juice, and the population was to be reduced to eternal slavery. Yes, the plan was simple, but the methods were much more sophisticated...

In the early 90s to the CIS countries, of Eastern Europe and American economic advisers and consultants arrived in droves in Russia. These were well-mannered and impeccably dressed, energetic people of mature years, in their views they were all convinced libertarians of the extreme right. (Libertarianism in economics is one of the most inhumane theories that completely denies the social state, as well as any state intervention in the economy. In essence, this is economic Darwinism: let the strong survive in free competition and the weak perish. The state should refuse to finance health care and education, and at the same time from taxation, and pension funds should become only private. If you have not saved for yourself for old age, then blame yourself. And if you are poor and sick, cry at the doors of charitable funds. Your children are only your problem. , don’t fool the state.)

In decent countries of Western Europe with a strong social policy libertarians at that time were not allowed anywhere near public administration(they would have been trampled by militant trade unions), but in the ex-socialist land of unafraid idiots they were held in high esteem. They weren’t just applauded and stared at, they were also paid for consultations. Local politicians stood before them on their hind legs, fascinated by phrases about “market reforms”...

“Electricity distribution networks were sold to the Czechs, Austrians and Germans, the French got water supply and sewerage, and copper ore, according to rumors, went to the Belgians,” says one of the nationalist leaders, Angel Jambazki. — These were the secret conditions for Bulgaria’s accession to the EU. All the old powers bargained to sell their consent at a higher price. Thanks to betrayal at the very top, Bulgaria was put under the hammer.”

“Since the early 2000s, Bulgaria has lived like a merry widow after the death of her rich husband,” says journalist Valery Naydenov. “She sells houses, lands, all her husband’s property and for five years lives much better than before. And then the stupid woman remains on the beans and begs on the porch. Until 2005, Bulgaria demonstrated excellent GDP growth (all sales transactions were taken into account). That is, we sold off national assets, and this was reflected in the GDP as our income. Everyone was happy: oh, what foreign investment! The authorities destroyed national economic science and dispersed serious institutions. And all research commissioned by the government and paid for by taxpayers is carried out by pro-Western NGOs."

What is today's Bulgaria? This is a sacrificial pawn on a chessboard. Her role is to be a blocking pawn for all Russian projects. We serve other people's interests, spoil relations with Russia and lose money for the transit of oil and gas. And American friends pat the Bulgarians on the shoulder and say: “Well done, guys! You have a democracy! One Bulgarian satirist very precisely defined what democracy is: “This is not the power of the people - it is the power of democrats.”

It is obvious that the refusal of South Stream hammered another nail into the coffin of Bulgarian statehood... However, this is a problem for the Bulgarians themselves, and it should never concern us, Russians, ever again.

When Bulgaria closed its airspace to Russian planes flying to Syria, it no longer caused a wave of anger. After the epic with South Stream, as a result of which gas pipe Now it is planned to send it to Turkey, this show off looked like a child's prank. All that came out was an annoying one: “Well, what are you saying, bros?”

During the Soviet era, Bulgaria was always presented as a loyal ally of Russia and then the Soviet Union. And only those advanced in history knew that this was by no means so.

Excursion into history

Bulgaria as an independent state fell in last years XIV century. For almost 500 years it became part of the Ottoman Empire. The Bulgarians repeatedly raised uprisings, which the Turks suppressed with invariable cruelty. Europe was loudly indignant and called for an end to the suffering of this freedom-loving European people. But the entire European struggle for the liberation of the Bulgarians was limited to shouts. And only Russia in 1877 took up the real liberation of Bulgaria, paying for it with the blood of thousands of its soldiers.

March 3, 1878 in the city of San Stefano between Russian and Ottoman Empires an agreement was concluded. Officially, Bulgaria was granted autonomy within the Porte. But at the same time, Bulgaria received its own monarch (Grand Duke) and a constitution,The Bulgarian Church acquired official status,Türkiye was withdrawing all its military units from Bulgaria...

Bulgaria became completely independent in 1908, when Bulgarian Prince Ferdinand declared Bulgaria a sovereign state. But it is March 3, the day of the conclusion of the treaty in San Stefano, that the Bulgarians have celebrated since 1880 as the day of liberation and restoration of the Bulgarian state. Probably then, 135 years ago, the Bulgarians knew better when exactly their independence began.

First World War

During the First World War, Bulgaria, as a sign of gratitude for the independence won from the Turks and given to it, acted in an alliance with Germany, Turkey and Austria-Hungary against Russia.

On September 6, 1916, the Bulgarian army invaded the territory of Romania and attacked the Russian troops stationed there in accordance with the Russian-Romanian alliance treaty. The First World War ended badly for Bulgaria.

The country lost 11,000 sq. km of territory, undertook to pay an indemnity of 2.25 billion gold francs, it was prohibited from having aviation and heavy weapons, the fleet was reduced to 10 ships, and foreign troops were introduced into Bulgarian territory. After such a disgrace, Tsar Ferdinand I abdicated the throne in favor of his son and fled the country.

The Second World War

The example of his father taught nothing to the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III.

During World War II, Bulgaria, as before, entered into an alliance with Germany, placing its material resources and its territory at its disposal. Luftwaffe squadrons and Wehrmacht units were stationed in Bulgaria. It was from the territory of Bulgaria on April 6, 1941 German troops invaded Greece and Yugoslavia.

Seeing how the Germans were victoriously seizing new territories, Boris III also hastened to join the game and on April 19, Bulgarian troops entered the territory of defending Greece and the already capitulated Yugoslavia. Hitler thanked his ally by giving him most of Macedonia and Northern Greece.

Bulgaria was the only one of Hitler's allies that did not declare war on the USSR. It's true. But by helping Germany, Bulgaria indirectly participated in the war of the Third Reich against the USSR. Bulgarian troops took part in the occupation of Greece, led fighting against Yugoslav partisans. And at that time, German divisions from Yugoslavia and Greece were transferred to the Eastern Front.

Brothers on Messerschmitts

Throughout the Second World War, the German military machine ran on Romanian oil. The Ploiesti factories were the main gas station in Germany. German tanks at Stalingrad, planes bombing Moscow, Doenitz submarines in the Atlantic drove, flew and sailed on Romanian fuel.

On June 11, 1942, 12 American B-24D Liberator heavy bombers took off from airfields in Egypt. This was the first bombing of the Ploiesti oil fields. Subsequently, bomber raids became regular. Together with the Luftwaffe pilots, Ploiesti was covered by Bulgarian pilots flying Messerschmitts donated by the Germans.

Brothers with Iron Crosses

Meet Stoyan Stoyanov, Bulgarian fighter pilot. On August 1, 1943, he scored his first victory, shooting down an American B-24D returning from a raid on Ploiesti. The entire crew (10 people) died. Then there were more victories. On August 7, 1943, Tsar Boris personally presented the “hero” with the medal “For Courage,” and on September 22, Stoyanov received the Iron Cross from the hands of Reichsmarshal Goering.

Stoyanov continued to fly and shoot down, and received another “For Courage.” He shot down the last plane on August 26, 1944. In total, the pilot shot down 15 Americans. Stoyanov was not the only one who shot down American planes and not the only one who wore the German Iron Cross on his chest. In total, Bulgarian pilots shot down 117 Allied aircraft.

On September 10, 1944, a coup took place in Bulgaria and yesterday’s allies became enemies. Now the Bulgarian pilots attacked the German planes. On September 14, for successful actions against the Luftwaffe, Stoyanov received the third medal “For Courage”.

We remember everything

Yes, the Bulgarian army did not fight with us in World War II. The Red Army passed through Bulgaria without fighting. The list of awards does not include “For the liberation of Sofia”. In 1944, Bulgarian soldiers did not shoot at Russians. We need to remember this.

We remember that “Alyosha” standing in Plovdiv became a symbol of the city. Three times (in 1989, 1993 and 1996) the authorities decided to dismantle the monument, and three times residents rebelled against this decision. Alyosha is standing.
And yet no one would call Bulgaria a loyal ally of Russia, especially today.

Yes, although Bulgaria owes Russia a lot, this does not mean that Bulgaria should love Russia forever. We must accept this reality. But the opposite is also true: Russia should not always lend its shoulder to its endlessly stumbling Bulgarian brother. And if Bulgaria ever knocks on a Russian house again, don’t be surprised when, instead of a wide open door, you hear from behind it “What do you want?” We remember everything...