Predictably, the visit by Russian president Vladimir Putin served as a catalyst for anti-communist, and by extension anti-Russian, feelings among the hard core of Bulgaria’s right-wing supporters.

Seizing the opportunity, Ivan Kostov, the leader of the right-wing Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB) was the main political figure to involve himself in the protests. Kostov has good experience in organising rallies against Bulgaria’s re-branded former communists, in the form of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and Putin’s visit worked well for Kostov, winning the DSB leader precious TV time for two days. Having lost every major election since 2001 when he was voted out as prime minister, Kostov led the anti-Putin protest as what could fairly be called a “revival meeting”.

The proof that the DSB had its own agenda during Putin’s visit became clear on January 17. Although a number of opposition parties, civic movements and environmentalists’ organisations planned joint actions, featuring rallies and protests, the DSB was the only political party to form its own protest.

The DSB chose a venue full of anti-Russian and pro-Western symbolism, the small garden near the Military Club, which features an outsize bust of Stefan Stambolov. Stambolov, prime minister from 1887 to 1894, is seen by most historians and Bulgarians as the man who stood up against imperial Russia and pursued closer ties with Western Europe. The second reason for picking the Stambolov monument as the centerpiece of the DSB protest was that it was there in October 1989 that communist authorities sent the militia against one of the first protesters against communism, days before the fall of the regime. The DSB made sure that people who had been assaulted in 1989 were back where it all happened 19 years later, among them Edwin Sougarev, a key figure from the first years of Bulgaria’s transition towards democracy.

Bulgarian TV coverage was not enough for DSB, and the party aimed at getting their posters on Western TV channels. This was why half of the posters printed by DSB against Putin were in English, saying “Putin go home”.

Suitably enough for an opposition protest, DSB got into dispute with the authorities in the form of Sofia municipality. In the early hours of January 16, “Putin go home” posters in DSB’s party colours were spread around Sofia. But Sofia municipality had not given permission for the poster displays and some were taken down. Pro-Russian organisations reacted quickly and some posters were replaced by others saying “Welcome Mister Putin”. Unlike the DSB posters, these were in Bulgarian, with the Bulgarian flag as a background.

This was more than enough to set the scene for one of the most emotionally-laden political protests Bulgaria has seen in the past eight years.

People holding anti-Putin posters and others denouncing the “KGB” crowded the small garden. In a lesser echo of the days of 1996, when Kostov and thousands of supporters rallied against the then BSP government, Kostov made his appearance to the accompaniment of the national anthem, cheered on by his supporters who shouted his name.

Having complained that none of the three national TV channels had been willing to publicise the DSB protest in advance, now Kostov had all the TV cameras he could want.

“We are not against the Russian people who we know are the friends of Bulgaria,” Kostov said, Sofia’s landmark Russian Orthodox church in the background.

“We are against the Russia of Putin and the Russia of the KGB. Putin has left in his trail the murders of liberal politicians, journalists, and he shot in front of her home Anna Politkovskaya,” Kostov said. He said that such high-profile attacks, done for show, were the KGB’s way of manipulating the Russian people.

After 40 minutes, Kostov relinquished his platform, and the hard-core right-wing crowd dispersed, warmed against the chill by emotions of solidarity and reminiscence of the protests of long past that had lain cold for more than eight years. And they had Putin to thank for that.