Russia's friends meet in Bulgaria

SOFIA, September 11 (Itar-Tass) - The 8th national congress of
Russia's friends in Bulgaria ended in the Bulgarian town of Kazanlyk on Saturday. The event had been organized under the patronage of Bulgarian President Georgy Pyrvanov and with assistance from the Bulgaria-Russia forum, the foundation for Bulgaria's stable development and the administration of the town of Kazanlyk.
The congress was attended by members of the Bulgarian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Zora political circle, representatives of Russian delegations, including Galina Gabusheva, the minister of national policy of the Republic of Komi; Leonid Reshetnikov, the director of the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies; Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Yuri Isakov and his adviser for cultural affairs Sergei Foshkin.
The Russian ambassador read out a decree of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to award Nikolai Malinov, the chairman of the National Movement of Russophilists with the Alexander Pushkin medal to commend his contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage, of more than 400 monuments, military memorials and burial grounds located in the country's territory.
"Our organization has restored 51 monuments to Russian and Soviet
soldiers in the territory of Bulgaria. It's necessary to develop
cooperation between our countries in all spheres," Malinov went on to say.
The Bulgarian Russophilist movement unites about 20,000 activists from various regions and is becoming more popular among young Bulgarians.