Under Pressure

This year’s Leipzig Book Fair takes place from 27 to 30 April.
Debates on Europe will be present with the following event:

Thursday, 27 4 2023, 4:00 PM
Café Europa – Hall 4, E303

Under Pressure
Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia – Russia’s Strategies of Destabilisation
With: Paula Erizanu, Ognyan Georgiev, Tomislav Marković
Moderator: Vedran Džihić

He serves the USSR with more fervour than the Soviet leaders themselves, said writer Georgi Markov about Todor Zhivkov, Bulgaria’s head of state from 1954 to 1989. Serbia, in turn, then part of Yugoslavia, broke with the Soviet Union shortly after the Second World War. Meanwhile, Moldova only declared its independence in 1991. But how do these countries’ relationship with Russia look today? As different as they are, what these countries currently have in common is that they are subject to Russian influence – culturally, politically, and economically. In all three of them, pro-Russian forces define themselves as decidedly anti-European. What does this mean in the different national contexts and how can European-oriented forces deal with it?

The discussion will be in English.

Co-Organisers: TRADUKI, Ministry of Culture of Romania