How Russia has penetrated Bulgaria’s state news agency

Nikolay Marchenko from Bivol.bg  looks at how the Bulgarian National Information Agency (BTA) has effectively become a subsidiary of  Russian news agency TASS.

The Bulgarian National Information Agency (BTA) has started regularly publishing reports and updates with a curious source: the Russian news agency, TASS. Even more curious, these reports are often unrelated to Russia or bilateral relations between Sofia and Moscow.

On August 16, BTA wired a TASS-sourced news story every hour of the day.

By comparison, Agepres – the public news agency of neighbouring Romania, a member state of the European Union and NATO like Bulgaria – publishes on average fewer than three TASS pieces per day, and those pieces almost always concern only the Russian Federation.

This is not the case with BTA. One recent example was BTA using TASS reports for the news about a Japanese tanker attacked off the coast of the Sultanate of Oman.

On July 31, 2021, the tanker "Mercer Street" was bombed by a drone. As a result, a British and a Romanian national were killed. Washington, Brussels, London, Jerusalem, and Bucharest condemned the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which are considered most likely to be behind this terrorist act.

The US Secretary of State and the Secretary of the State of Israel condemned the regime in Tehran for the attack. AFP’s report went with the headline: “Anthony Blinken: We are sure that Iran has organized the attack on the tanker" Mercer Street”. This was the story quoted by Romania’s Agepres.

But what does BTA do when one of Bulgaria's closest EU and NATO allies, Romania, seeks justice for its dead citizen? The Bulgarian Public News Agency quoted TASS: "The US and Israeli foreign ministers discussed the case of the tanker attacked in the Arabian Sea."

This veiled headline speaks to Moscow’s commitments to Tehran as its main ally in the Middle East, but to whom does Sofia have responsibilities? Isn't it better to be with NATO, the EU, and neighbouring Romania?

On August 1, world media reported that United Kingdom and Romanian ambassadors to Iran had been summoned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry over the suspicions about Iran's participation.

Romania's Agerpres quoted the Spanish agency EFE: "Attack on tanker Mercer Street: Romania's ambassador and British charger d'affair summoned to Iranian Foreign Ministry" (Atacul asupra petrolierului Mercer Street: British Ambassador, convocaţi la MAE Iranian).

BTA, again, cited the TASS news report: "The Romanian ambassador was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry in connection with the incident with a Japanese tanker." Rather than call the attack what it was – an act of terrorism, TASS and BTA see it as just an "incident”.

It's just one of the many examples illustrating that Bulgaria might more accurately be seen not as an EU and NATO member, but rather part of another integration project of Moscow – the Organization of Independent States (CIS).

This becomes even clearer when looking at news related to Ukraine.

The war in Donbas in Russia-annexed Crimea has been going on for seven years and cost more than 13,000 lives. But there is no "conflict " for the Bulgarian National Agency (BTA).

Less than 2% of TASS reported news is on the bilateral bilateral relationship between Bulgaria and Russia

BTA, as a state agency, is abusing its role by publishing information from TASS. The following analysis is based on 54 news items for seven days, making about 7.7 articles per day.

In the analyzed week between July 22 and 28, 54 news items from the "World" section were from TASS or citing the Russian state agency.

The case of the terrorist attack on the Japanese tanker demonstrates the influence of TASS on the information flow of BTA, and hence the wider Bulgarian media.

Only one story about the resumption of Russian airline Aeroflot's flights to Bulgaria directly addressed bilateral relations between Bulgaria and the Russian Federation.

The materials concerning the Russian Federation and the countries of the region of the former Soviet Union are 42.58%. All other TASS quoted materials for 57.42% of the flow are on reports relating to EU and NATO partners, or other nations such as China. It is noteworthy that more than half of the TASS news reports quoted and translated by BTA daily, concern third countries, but not the Russian Federation, the Republic of Bulgaria, or the Balkans.

Also noteworthy is the existence of a daily update on "Official exchange rates of the Russian ruble against the dollar and the euro." What is the significance of this information for the Republic of Bulgaria? Furthermore, why is it not to the Bulgarian lev? 

Over 25% of Tass updates are Kremlin propaganda

Even more disturbing are "news" items which do nothing but support the Kremlin’s agenda. One story was the announcement that the Crimean Tatars proposed that Turkey recognize Crimea as Russian territory.

The article does not explain that the Russian Federation annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, nor that the EU and NATO sanctioned Russia over their actions.

BTA again parroted TASS on a story concerning Georgia, which left the CIS and the USSR many years ago. TASS reports: "Military exercises with the participation of 12 NATO countries have started in Georgia." BTA could have reported this story from the agencies of any of the 12 participating NATO member states and partners, including Ukraine and Georgia, which have agencies in Russian and English, but again, it relied on TASS.

BTA even republished TASS material for the Tokyo Olympics, which focused on Russian support for CIS country Uzbekistan: "Oksana Chusovitina was deprived of the right to be the flag bearer of the national team of Uzbekistan without explanation." Again, what real relevance is this to the Bulgarian people?

Other materials were published demonstrating Moscow's interest in competing armies in the CIS region purchasing anti-submarine ships: “Ukraine and Turkey have signed an agreement to build two Ada corvettes.”

Even when supposedly demonstrating neutrality, the Bulgarian speaks through TASS. Take the issue of media repression in Belarus: "The Belarusian authorities are closing the Press Club journalism workshop and several public organizations," the BTA says, quoting TASS

The leaders of the Belarusian opposition have repeatedly asked for assistance from the EU, the United States, and Vladimir Putin in negotiations with the Lukashenko regime. Moscow has never officially responded to these requests.

Articles represent Russian interests amount to around 12.96% of the news flow. Add to this the

seven weekly posts on the Russian ruble exchange rates and 25.92% of reports could be seen as beneficial to the authorities in Moscow and the Russian Embassy in Sofia.

This is raising serious concerns that BTA behaves almost like a Balkan affiliate of TASS and a Trojan horse for the Kremlin's media propaganda within the EU.

In 2004, Mikhail Gusman, First Deputy Director-General of TASS, and the long-time Director-General of BTA, Maxim Minchev, created the "World Congress of News Agencies". However, this seemingly global organization actually included mainly the mouthpieces of regional dictatorial regimes such as Belarus’s BELTA, Azerbaijan’s AZERTAC, Turkey’s Anadolu, and China’s Xinhua. 

The first congress of these partners took place in Moscow. The last meeting in 2019 was held in Sofia, with the bold tagline: "The future of news".

If BTAs growing reliance on TASS is anything to go by, the future of news in Bulgaria looks bleak.

Nikolay Marchenko is a journalist at Bivol.bg – an Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) Partner for Bulgaria