Pro-Russian party in Bulgaria agrees to "exchange ideas" with Putin's political party

Bulgaria's pro-Russian Vazrazhdane (Revival) party has signed a cooperation and equal partnership agreement with United Russia, the political faction run by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

As reported by Euractiv, an EU-focused news and analysis website, Vazrazhdane announced the signing of the agreement in a press release about its delegation's visit to Moscow, made at the invitation of the Kremlin’s party.

"The agreement provides for the exchange of experience, ideas and political practices between the two parties, and is an important positive step towards the restoration of full-fledged Bulgarian-Russian relations," the political party said.

The deal was formalised by Tsoncho Ganev, Deputy Chairman of Vazrazhdane and Deputy Speaker of the Bulgarian parliament, and Vladimir Yakushev, First Deputy Chair of Russia’s Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian legislature.

Vazrazhdane sees no issue with Russia declaring Bulgaria an enemy state following the onset of the war in Ukraine while continuing to maintain ties with Putin's political party.

Representatives of this party also visited Russia a year ago.

In March, the pro-Russian and Eurosceptic Velichie party was elected to parliament in Bulgaria after a partial recount of votes in the October elections.