Sofia, February 25 (BTA) – District mayor Traicho Traikov initiates a relocation procedure of the monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia, Traikov announced on his Facebook page.
Traikov wrote that the reason for the initiation of the relocation is that the whole Sofia Municipal Council, except for representatives of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, are supporting and expecting the procedure.
For years, politicians, public figures, citizens have been demanding the monument’s removal from the park, once commissioned by Prince Ferdinand. These people have established an Initiative Committee and an Association for Dismantling of the Soviet Army Monument in Sofia with participants Goran Blagoev, Ivo Indzhev, Ivan Sotirov, Marta Georgieva, Martin Zaimov, and Ekaterina Boncheva. In May 2021, they sent a letter to the then caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev demanding the removal of Soviet monuments from the centre of Sofia. In the letter, it is stated that the district governance had clearly expressed willingness to dismantle the monument with a decision from March 18, 1993. However, the dismantling was stopped by order of the then Interior Minister Viktor Mihailov from the government of Lyuben Berov, according to the organizations.
