Bulgaria, Russia in Spat over Seized Archives

The head of Bulgaria's State Archives Agency has called "unrealistic" a demand from Russia to receive USD 23 490 in return for archives the Soviet Union seized from Bulgaria during World War Two.

The price tag suggests copies of the archive will be sold for USD 1.74 per page, Mihail gruev, who heads the agency, has told the Bulgarian National Radio.

In 1944, 130 bags of document were taken out of the Bulgarian archives and transported to the USSR.

"How big these bags were, however, and what they contained, is a big mystery," Gruev has said.

Supposedly, the most affected data set is that of police, gathered between 1923 and 1944, alongside documents of the armed forces. There are also documents related to the Neuilly Treaty, which Bulgaria had to sign after losing World War One.

Moscow may also be reluctant to return the archive as that would set a precedent and Romania, Hungary, Germany and other countries may make similar demands, Gruev said.

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