Bulgaria torn between old friends and new partners over Crimea.
Bulgaria has long been an anomaly in Europe, a country inside the European Union and the NATO military alliance, yet which feels close to Russia. That tension has been thrown into even sharper relief by the stand-off over Ukraine, with many feeling under pressure to choose between Moscow and Brussels.
Bulgaria is now facing its sternest test of loyalty to the European Union since joining in 2007 and has not wavered, even though it risks economic hardship and a domestic backlash could topple Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's fragile coalition.
The danger for the government is that the nationalist Attack party - on whose support the Socialists rely to stay in power - could carry out a threat to withdraw their unofficial support if Sofia backs more EU sanctions against the Kremlin.
Bulgaria is highly vulnerable to the political fallout of the Crimea crisis compared to other countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain such as pro-Western Poland, or fellow 2007 EU entrant Romania, which had already begun to drift from Moscow in Communist times and is less hooked on Russian energy supplies.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/uk-bulgaria-russia-idUKBREA390B020140410
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