25.05.2017
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Bulgaria Anatoliy Makarov. During the conversation at the Council of Ministers, the Ambassador congratulated the Prime Minister on his third mandate and wished him luck.
Borissov and Makarov discussed the development of bilateral relations with a focus on the opportunities for widening and deepening. The following areas of mutual interest were pointed out: trade and economy, tourism, energy projects in Bulgaria and in particular the European gas hub “Balkan” and the quest for a private investor for the Nuclear Power Plant “Belene”.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Borissov raised the issue about the statement of the Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Slavic alphabet, thereby drawing attention to the fact that similar statements on the 24th of May, which is an official holiday in Bulgaria, provoke strong reactions in Bulgarian citizens. The Prime Minister showed a placard of old Pliska and reminded about the original source of Christianity in the Slavic lands. Borissov pointed out the investments that the Bulgarian state makes in renovating the Great Basilica where Kliment and Angelariy wrote the first books in Cyrillic.
The Prime Minister reminded that the creation of the alphabet happened with the willingness and participation of the Bulgarian state during the reign of the Bulgarian ruler Boris the First Mihail. According to Borissov, this is an undoubted Bulgarian contribution to the European and world culture. He underlined that even today tens of peoples worldwide use the alphabet created in Bulgaria, including on the territory of the Russian Federation. The Prime Minister reminded that this was emphasized by the Moscow Patriarch of Russia Cyril during an official visit to Bulgaria, who stated it in front of President Rosen Plevneliev on 29 April 2012.
Ambassador Makarov noted that he personally took part in the celebrations on the occasion of the 24th of May in sign of gratitude on the part of the Russian state for the deed of the brothers Cyril and Methodius.
