In the Sino-Soviet rift that
developed during the 1960s, Bulgaria continually expressed its
allegiance to Moscow and decried the divisiveness that resulted from
polycentric attitudes and actions.

In mid-1973 Bulgaria maintained diplomatic relations with eighty-two
governments, thirty-six of which had embassies in Sofia. The remaining
governments carried on diplomatic relations through their
representatives in nearby capitals. Bulgaria maintained fifty-four
embassies in foreign countries and, as a member of the United Nations
(UN), maintained an ambassador and a staff in New York. Bulgaria also
participated in the activities of many of the UN special agencies.

DETERMINANTS OF FOREIGN POLICY

Historical Factors

Bulgaria emerged from World War II under the control of a coalition
government dominated by the BKP, which by 1947 had arrogated unto itself
complete power in the country. In the immediate postwar years policy and
direction concerning how the BKP should run the country was dictated
from Moscow, as was the case throughout most of the countries of Eastern
Europe. Between 1944 and 1948 eight countries had been taken over by
communist parties and had aligned themselves with the Soviet Union,
which exerted varying degrees of influence in the internal and
international affairs of all of them. Over the next twenty years
Yugoslavia and Albania broke out of the Soviet orbit completely; the
German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Poland, Hungary, and
Czechoslovakia experienced uprisings or civil disorders--in most cases
suppressed by Soviet force--and Romania asserted its right to national
self-determination on numerous occasions. Bulgaria alone remained
unwavering in its absolute allegiance to the Soviet Union.

Bulgaria chose not to follow the examples of other Eastern European
countries in seeking some degree of autonomy during the 1950s and 1960s
for many reasons. Not least among these were the historic traditions of
friendship between Bulgarians and Russians dating back to the
Russo-Turkish war that freed Bulgaria from Turkish rule in 1878.
Bulgarians are also close to the Russians in language, religion, and
cultural traditions. Additionally, having assumed power, the Bulgarian
Communists quite naturally looked toward Moscow--then the center of
world communism--for guidance and support. Many of the early postwar
leaders had spent several years as residents of the Soviet Union, where
they had been closely