Yesterday's statement by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova that the deportation of Bulgarian Jews to the death camps had been prevented “thanks to the Soviet army” elicited a sharp response from Bulgarian President Rumen Radev who said:

“I think it either shows a deep ignorance of history or is an attempt at provocation. I cannot say which, but I do think that Bulgaria's reaction was adequate.”

It was not the Soviet army but the Bulgarian people that rescued the Bulgarian Jews, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry stated, responding to the statement made by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry. She expressed Moscow's indignation over the desecration of the monument to the Soviet army in Sofia on 31 October when the words “100 years Zionist occupation” were written on it. Zakharova said: “This act was particularly cynical, knowing that in the years of the Second World War it was thanks to our soldiers that preventing the deportation of the Jews from Bulgaria was made possible, thus rescuing around 50,000 people from certain death. But the worst thing is not that the monument was defaced, but the fact that these vandals have no idea of their own history.”

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva made a statement adducing undeniable historical facts, adding that she hoped this was “some kind of misunderstanding”.