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| Ibid. 518 Ibid. 519 Tsvetelia Tsolova & Angel Krasimirov, ‘‘Russia-Friendly Political Novice Wins Bulgaria Presidential Election Exit Polls Reuters, Nov. 12, 2016. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Joint Press Point with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev,’’ Jan. 31, 2017. Committee Staff Interview of Project Members Examining Russian Disinformation, Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria, Feb. 23, 2017. 522 ‘‘Anti-Democratic Propaganda in Bulgaria Human and Social Studies Foundation, 2017. Michael Colborne, Made in Bulgaria Pro-Russian Propaganda Coda, May 9, 2017 Foundation, supports organizations outside Russia in partnership with the Russian Orthodox Church . . . to promote Russian language and Russian culture.’’ 513 Russkiy Mir operates six Russia Centers in Bulgaria focused on cultural and educational programs in addition to Russian-language instruction. 514 Russia reportedly sought to exploit Bulgarian politics during the 2016 presidential election using techniques seen elsewhere across Europe. 515 Prior to the 2016 presidential election, Leonid Reshetnikov, then director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), visited Bulgaria, where he reportedly provided the Socialist Party with a secret strategy document proposing a road to victory at the ballot box with recommendations to plant fake news and promote exaggerated polling data.’’ 516 The document also urged the Socialist Party to adopt a platform that aligned with Kremlin interests end sanctions on Russia, criticize NATO, and encourage Brexit. 517 Reshetnikov told the Bulgarian and Russian media that he met with the head of the Socialist party, but he denies providing the dossier. 518 Later that year, Rumen Radev, the Bulgarian Socialist Party candidate, would goon to win the presidency with 59 percent of the vote, though how much of its success was due to following the reported RISS plan is impossible to deter- mine. 519 And despite the alleged Russian support and initial concerns about Radev’s candidacy, since becoming President, his expressions of strong support for NATO and the EU indicate an intention to maintain the status quo with these institutions. 520 The Kremlin has also reportedly interfered in more recent Bulgarian national elections. Prior to the 2017 parliamentary elections, Bulgarian analysts asserted that upwards of 300 Bulgarian websites were dedicated to advancing pro-Russian propaganda. 521 A 2017 report by the Human and Social Studies Foundation, a Bulgarian think tank, asserts that domestically-generated pro-Russian propaganda is used as a tool to advance domestic political goals. 522 For example, Bulgarian national Stefan Proynov runs a small troll farm in the village of Pliska. 523 According to the Russian investigative website Coda Proynov’s mission runs on vengeance—specifically, against the generally pro-European, center-right, GERB party of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who won reelection last VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:06 Jan 09, 2018 Jkt PO 00000 Frm 00097 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\COMMITTEE PRINT 2018\HENRY\JAN. 9 REPORT FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER 92 524 Ibid. 525 U.S. Department of State, Background Information on Bulgaria for Committee Staff, Feb. 9, 2017. 526 Ibid. 527 Ibid. 528 Eric Schmitt, US. Troops Train in Eastern Europe to Echoes of the Cold War The New York Times, Aug. 6, 2017. Nick Thorpe, ‘‘Bulgaria’s Military Warned of Soviet-Era Catastrophe BBC News, Oct. 14, 2014. John R. Haines, The Suffocating Symbiosis Russia Seeks Trojan Horses Inside Fractious Bulgaria’s Political Corral, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Aug. 5, 2016 (citing a November 2006 interview with Kapital, a Bulgarian language weekly business newspaper. Ina public opinion poll conducted by the European Commission in 2016, 49 percent of Bulgarian citizens expressed trust in the EU, a rate higher than several other countries across Western Europe. European Commission, Directorate-General for Communication, Standard Eurobarometer 86: Public opinion in the European Union, Nov. 2016, at 93. month. Proynov claims that in 2011, GERB, then Bulgaria s ruling party, and the police cooked up criminal charges against him (for the illegal possession of antiquities, weapons and narcotics) to silence his criticism of their policies. 524 This mutually beneficial propaganda loop is in some respects more powerful and more difficult to counter than Moscow-gen- erated propaganda on its own. Despite the lukewarm support for NATO within the general population, Bulgaria should be lauded for its active role in the Alliance. It deployed troops and suffered casualties in the NATO-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. 525 According to the US. State Department, the US. Department of Defense is funding increased exercises and training at four joint U.S.-Bulgarian military facili- ties. 526 In September 2016, the United States and Bulgaria conducted a NATO Joint Enhanced Air Policing (EAP) Mission, the first of its kind in the country. 527 And in 2017, Bulgaria co-hosted the Saber Guardian exercise, the largest US. and NATO exercise in Europe of the year. 528 Bulgaria’s active role in NATO, however, remains somewhat hampered by the country’s continued reliance on Russian-made military equipment, a legacy of the Warsaw Pact. In particular, Bulgarian government officials have expressed concern about the country’s Soviet-era air defense systems as well as ongoing maintenance of equipment across the armed forces. 529 In light of the Counteracting America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that mandates sanctions on those who conduct significant transactions with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors, the Bulgarian government should be working with urgency to diminish its reliance on Russian arms. Download 0.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
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