Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly told his Macedonian counterpart yesterday that the Cyrillic script and Slavic literacy “came from Macedonian soil”, a statement met with condemnation in Bulgaria.
In a case of perfect timing, Mr Putin made his statement during the Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov's visit to Moscow, which coincided with the Bulgarian public holiday celebrating Saints Cyril and Methodius, authors of the Glagolitic alphabet that served as a basis for Cyrillic.
Several Bulgarian ministers and diplomats, including Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, have vocally decried Mr Putin's claim, arguing that it whitewashes the significance of Bulgaria in the creation of the writing system.