Review of the unreliable or misleading publications on Russia in the Bulgarian media (January 9-15, 2023)

The Bulgarian media continue releasing anti-Russia materials into the local information space, persisting in their efforts to ramp up the Russophobic hysteria. The rhetoric in these publications was rather hectic during the reporting period with groundless accusations that Moscow was subjecting Crimean Tatars to genocide, mixed with resonant predictions that time was running out for Putin.

1. In its quest to expand its readership within the pro-Western audience, Faktor.bg came up with a cynical and provocative title: The Kremlin Carries Out Ethnic Cleansing of Crimean Tatars (https://faktor.bg/bg/articles/politika-hlyab-i-pasti-kremal-provezhda-otnovo-etnichesko-prochistvane-na-krimskite-tatari). This tabloid affirmed that 90 percent of the personnel mobilised into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from the Republic of Crimea were Crimean Tatars, without backing this claim with references to any sources. The title went on to share its “observation” that this imbalance in terms of ethnic representation affected other ethnic minorities too, including the Buryats, the Yakuts, the Kalmyks, etc.

It is hardly a surprise that this local Kiev propaganda mouthpiece made this crude attempt to speculate on ethnic affairs yet again. The Foreign Ministry would like to remind it that Russia is a multi-ethnic state as per Chapter 1, Article 3 of its Constitution (http://www.constitution.ru/10003000/10003000-3.htm), while all citizens who are in the army reserve and do not have the right to deferment can be called up for military service as part of mobilisation, regardless of their ethnic background.

2. Fakti.bg agency (https://fakti.bg/world/746069-rusia-se-gotvi-za-golemi-promeni-vremeto-na-putin-izticha) went as far in its Russophobic fantasies as to claim that “the Kremlin’s fiasco in Ukraine is inevitable.” In the article, the author argues that the Russian army commanders have allegedly realised that victory is beyond their reach, which has prompted them to look for alternative ways to stay at the helm in case Russia loses in the special military operation and this results in drastic changes in the country. It is said that the military top brass is actively looking for a successor to Vladimir Putin, someone they would be able to control, preparing for a large-scale struggle for power.

It is obvious that this pro-Western agency uses this simplistic narrative to create an illusion among its readers about political instability inside Russia. However, considering the ongoing consolidation within Russian society and the government, noticed, among others, by several Western experts, we do not need to present any further comments to demonstrate that the conclusions in articles like this one do not hold water.

3. Faktor.bg, an online media outlet, reported (https://faktor.bg/bg/articles/novini-svyat-zashto-otiva-v-skopie-ruskiyat-mitropolit-antoniy) on the arrival on January 11, 2023, of Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony to Skopje “for engaging in yet another subversive act against Orthodoxy” by sabotaging the recognition of the Macedonian Orthodox Church by Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew. The title drew the attention of its audience to the fact that the visit by the Russian Orthodox Church cleric was kept secret until the last moment. The same happened with his trip to Bulgaria on December 6-9, 2022, the article noted, alleging that this confirmed that the visit was a provocation.

It is worth reminding these would-be journalists that the head of the Department of External Church Relations visited Bulgaria to mark the 70th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Metochion (http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5994722.html) in Sofia and his visit generated extensive coverage in the local and Russian media. He did not hold any official talks with the dignitaries of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on the current Orthodox agenda. We believe such attempts to inject too much politics into inter-church dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and other autocephalous churches to be unacceptable, to say the least.