Bulgarian Socialist Party government appointing former State Security collaborator as consul-general in Bitola
Teodor Russinov, removed from his post as Bulgaria’s ambassador to Albania in February 2012 by the then-government headed by Boiko Borissov because of Russinov’s link to communist-era secret service State Security, is to be appointed consul-general in Bitola, Macedonia, by the current Bulgarian Socialist Party government.
The appointment of Russinov, identified by the Dossier Commission as having been an collaborator with the intelligence directorate of the general staff during the communist era, is on the agenda for the cabinet meeting on September 25 2013.
During the term of office of the Borissov government, when Nikolai Mladenov was foreign minister, policy was not to have people with State Security links occupying top diplomatic posts representing Bulgaria abroad.
After the current Bulgarian Socialist Party government took office in May, foreign minister Kristian Vigenin took the line that “experienced” diplomats should not be wasted and spoke of them having been “humiliated” by the previous government.
President Rossen Plevneliev, however, who took office as head of state in January 2012 after having been elected on the centre-right ticket of Borissov’s party, responded to Vigenin by making it clear that he would not sign decrees appointing State Security people as ambassadors.
Also on the cabinet agenda of September 25 is the appointment of Milen Lyutskanov, deputy foreign minister at the time in the second half of 2009 when Roumyana Zheleva was foreign minister, as consul-general in New York.
(Photo, of the cabinet building in Sofia: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
