Ukraine to Probe Defaced Bulgarian Monument

Ukraine authorities have vowed to investigate the vandalization of a monument to Bulgarian volunteer fighters in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1888 in the city of Bolhrad in Ukraine's Odessa region.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mariana Betsa condemned аccident on Tuesday and said the ministry suspected "a deliberate provocation which aims to provoke tension and to undermine friendly Bulgarian-Ukranian relations".

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine's Trassa E-95 news agency reported that the monument, which was erected by the Association of Bulgarians in Ukraine in 2012, had been splashed with yellow paint, allegedly by Ukrainian nationalists.

A sign painted on one of the memorial plaques read: "Suitcase - station - Sofia," which was interpreted as a call for the large Bulgarian ethnic community to leave the region of Odessa.

The accident has not been caught on video, as the cameras surrounding the monument had been stolen a year ago.

Bolhrad's municipal council had promised to clean the monument for March 3, Bulgaria's national holiday, when celebrations organized by the Bulgarian community are to take place.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on the monument and explained that it had happened on the night between 27 and 28 February.

"We qualify this act as a provocation that is spreading tension in the Bulgarian community in the region," it said in a letter to BIRN on Wednesday.

It praised the quick reaction of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine and said it expected Ukrainian law enforcement authorities to take all the necessary measures to identify and prosecute the perpetrators of the act and prevent such actions in the future.

Bolhrad, which is 167 kilometres away from the southern port city of Odessa,...