Bulgaria has its own priorities, but turning its back on Russia would be a mistake and an absurdity, National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) leader Simeon Saxe-Coburg told the Russian edition of Newsweek magazine in an interview on Bulgarian-Russian relations and on the partnership between Slavic states that had recently been accepted to the EU. The interview was called "Being a Slav is not a doctrine", Saxe-Coburg's press attache Tsvetelina Ouzounova told mediapool.bg.

Saxe-Coburg told Russian Newsweek that Russia was an enormous country rich of resources. It was an opportunity for Bulgaria to have so much in common, like language, culture and religion. Undoubtedly every country has its own priorities, influence and views. But Bulgaria turning its back on Russia as some Bulgarians tried to do during the transition would be a mistake and an absurdity, Saxe-Coburg said.

He said that both at the times when he was Prime Minister of Bulgaria and nowadays, he always thought of the advantages that good Bulgarian-Russian relations had.

Asked about Russia-EU tensions, Saxe-Coburg said more attention should be paid to areas of mutual interest, instead of the differences between the two parties.

As far as closeness between Slavic nations was concerned, Saxe-Coburg said that feeling had been cultivated over the years. Different civilizations have existed on the territory of Bulgaria over the centuries which made Bulgarians cosmopolitans. This make Bulgarians feel comfortable in the EU today, he said.

Saxe-Coburg was asked whether, in the framework of the EU, an integration of the Slavic EU member states in another union, based on the 19th century pan-slavism concept, was possible, mediapool.bg reported. "I think the main idea remains a united Europe, having different communities, language, religion and culture. Of course, there is a certain closeness between us and Russia, conditioned by the historical role Russia played for Bulgaria in the 19th century. This, however, by no means pushes aside national self-consciousness," Saxe-Coburg said.