Bulgarian environmental movements and the Free Speech Association Anna Politkovskaya, named for the murdered Russian journalist, organised protests against visiting Russian president Vladimir Putin.

There were two main themes of the respective protests. One was against the environmental risks of the Belene nuclear power station and Bourgas-Alexandropoulis oil pipeline projects, both of which have Russian involvement. The other was against Russian influence in latter-day Bulgaria.

On January 17, about 200 people protested at Orlov Most (Eagle's Bridge) and on January 18, about 150 people turned out in front of the Presidency building, growing to 600 who gathered for a demonstration and protest march.

On the environmental front, there were representatives of the the Initiative Committee to save Bourgas Bay, Ecoglasnost deputy chairperson Petur Penchev, Petko Kovachev and Denitsa Petrova of the official Greenpeace representative for Bulgaria Green Policy Institute and the Bikevolution Association.

On the party political front, those who turned out included leaders and supporters of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, Union of Democratic Forces, Middle European Class and ultra-nationalist movement Ataka.

Penchev told The Sofia Echo that protests organisers had notified Sofia municipality that they intended organising street gatherings, as required by the local Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations Act. The city did not reply within 24 hours, as the law requires, and the protest organisers read this as silent assent.

However, as the protesters started to gather on noon of January 17 at Orlov Most, police sealed off the bridge and did not allow them, or ordinary pedestrians, to cross the bridge, redirecting them to the underpasses. Police first said that the anti-Putin demonstrations had moved to Pozitano Street, and later said that they would allow through only those who had arrived at the official noon starting time of the protest.

There were disputes between police and protesters about the police refusing to allow the group to join together. MP Neno Dimov (DSB) intervened to try to persuade police to allow the protesters to form one group.

The Green Policy Institute’s Petrova told The Sofia Echo: “This is not a place where he (Putin) is welcome and we do not want Bulgaria to become the Trojan Horse of Russia in Europe.

“Bulgaria is not a testing ground for Russian nuclear energy and I don’t want Bourgas to become one of the most polluted ports with destroyed tourism opportunities for the whole region,” Petrova said.

She said that the projects were not economically beneficial for Bulgaria. Bourgas-Alexandropoulis was a 51 per cent Russian project, “and we will profit only from the transit taxes, which would hardly cover possible losses from spills and any other possible technological problems,” she said.

She said that Belene was an unnecessary project for Bulgaria because the plant was being built for exports. “It is often reported by the media that we need to provide the energy security of the Balkans, but our neighbour countries are not sleeping and waiting for Bulgaria to build its capacities,” Petrova said.

Uranium, and most of Bulgaria’s other energy resources, such as coal, were also coming from Russia, Petrova said.

“Putin is supposed to sign another contract on returning the radioactive waste to Bulgaria because one of the myths is that we send the reprocessed nuclear fuel to Russia. The truth is that, according to the contract, we send it to Russia and they take what they need for their military industry, and then return it. We however don’t have either a strategy to manage this issue, or a safe depot for nuclear waste for the coming 100 000 years,” Petrova said.

The Green Policy Institute proposed an alternative, that Bulgaria increase its energy efficiency and to invest in renewable energy sources.

“There are companies that want to invest but such a big project (Belene) will only stifle the macroclimate in this sphere. There will be no investments because Bulgaria will sign a contract, according to which during the following 15 years it will have to buy energy solely and entirely from BNPP to be able to pay off all the billions we will borrow,” she said.

A referendum on the construction of the Bourgas-Alexandropoulis pipeline will be held on February 17 in Bourgas.