The public relations team of Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has made an utterly unpleasant and scandalous gaffe. Some media are already writing that Petkov is extremely ashamed. What’s it all about?

On February 19, a photo was published of Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. The photo also reflects the clear support of the senior US official for the Macedonian – Bulgarian dialogue and the encouragement for a solution to the dispute. On February 20, that same photo was cropped in such a way that the Macedonian Prime Minister was left out of the photo.

Cropped photo of Blinken and Petkov, with Kovacevski left out

Why would anyone do that? No matter what the answer is, it’s not at all pleasant for the Bulgarian Prime Minister and his team. The scandalous “retouching” of the facts could be the result of an amateur attempt to show Blinken’s support for Petkov. At the expense of Kovacevski, of course. That alone is enough for this action to be marked as scandalous, not to mention the possible motive behind the action.

Is the goal to conceal in every possible way, even by cropping a photo, the support from Blinken to the Skopje-Sofia dialogue and especially the US support for the Macedonian Euro-Atlantic integrations?

Let’s hope it’s not, because such an action is the last thing that should come to the mind of one dealing with creating public opinion. In any case, the question remains open whether it’s about a Bulgarian political rascality or about a clumsy PR move. If nothing else, the public in both of the countries deserves an explanation.

Xhabir Deralla

Translation: N. Cvetkovska