Bulgaria formally protested against Macedonian politicians who compared its denial of the Macedonian national identity and history to the historic narrative Russia builds up to justify its attack on Ukraine. The formal protest from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry followed after VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski alluded to the similarities in his Council of Europe speech.

Following the string of provocative and ill intentioned anti-Bulgarian comments over the past days from politicians and public figures in Macedonia, the Foreign Ministry expresses its concern that this campaign has as its purpose to increase the anti-Bulgarian mood, the Ministry said. Nikoloski said that Bulgaria itself recognized its actions in his description. Meanwhile, Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani also asked politicians not to make the same comparison – even as Bulgarian officials claim that the Macedonian nation was “invented by Tito”, while Putin claims that the Ukrainian nation was “invented by Lenin”.

But, at he same time, Bulgarian scholars make the same comparison. In a DW column in late February, Sofia university professor Ivaylo Dichev made the same link – that the Bulgarian “key arguments are similar to those made by Putin, that this is a country made up by the Komintern, without its own identity, that all speak Bulgarian over there”.

At the other extreme, Angel Dimitrov, the head of the Bulgarian team in the joint historic committee with Macedonia, raised the war in Ukraine as reason why Bulgaria should continue to veto Macedonia. In his mind, Macedonia and Serbia would act as pro-Russian EU member states and be a Trojan horse in Brussels. These comparisons are also ignored by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.