Diplomatic relations between Russia and Bulgaria were established on July 7, 1879, while diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Bulgaria were established on July 23, 1934 to be severed in September 1944 and restored in August 1945. On August 4, 1992, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Bulgaria signed the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation.
Timeline of Russia and Bulgaria's recent major contacts:
In July 2004, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov visited Russia to sign an agreement on the 125th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Russia and Bulgaria and prospects for developing friendly relations and a diverse partnership.
On March 15, 2007, a trilateral intergovernmental agreement to construct and maintain the Burgas–Alexandroupoli oil pipeline was signed in Athens before Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bulgarian prime ministers Sergei Stanishev and Konstantinos Karamanlis.
On June 24, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov met during the Balkan energy summit in Zagreb. Vladimir Putin and Georgi Parvanov focused on the two countries' relations and mentioned the strong cooperation in the energy sector. They confirmed the mutual interest in implementing the Burgas–Alexandroupoli oil pipeline and the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, and agreed on Bulgaria's joining the South Stream project to carry Russian natural gas to Europe.
On January 17 and 18, 2008, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Bulgaria. At an official ceremony, Mr Putin and Mr Parvanov opened the Year of Russia in Bulgaria held to mark the 130th anniversary of Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule.
On September 18, 2008, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev during the 7th international investment forum Sochi-2008. The discussion focused on Bulgarian companies' involvement in Olympic facility construction in Sochi, as well as cooperative energy projects.
On February 5, 2009, Georgi Parvanov opened the Year of Bulgaria in Russia during his visit to Moscow at an official ceremony which drew some 800 participants from Bulgaria. Festival events occurred in Russia's major federal centres and the cities of Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kazan, Pskov, Samara, Saratov, Syzran, Togliatti, Uglich, Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary and Yaroslavl. The Bulgarian national exhibition, held from April 27 through April 30, 2009 in Moscow and in the cities of Khanty-Mansiysk, Yekaterinburg and Kazan from May through June 2009, became the festival's highlight.
On September 1, 2009, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov during the memorial ceremonies in Gdańsk, Poland, held to commemorate the beginning of WWII.
On July 2, 2010, at Bulgaria's initiative, Mr Putin and Mr Borisov had a telephone conversation and agreed on a Russian delegation visit led by First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov to Bulgaria to promote the South Stream pipeline project. On July 5 and 6, 2010, Mr Borisov and members of his cabinet had talks with Mr Zubkov in Sofia.
On August 9, 2010, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Boyko Borisov to express his gratitude to the Bulgarian prime minister for his aid in battling peat fires in the Moscow Region's towns of Noginsk and Orekhovo-Zuyevo, where some 100 Bulgarian firefighters worked.
During their telephone conversation on November 1, 2010, the two prime ministers agreed on Mr Putin's working visit to Sofia on November 13, 2010.
Bulgaria and Russia have maintained parliamentary contacts as well. On March 2 through 4, 2010, Russia's Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov visited Sofia. Bulgaria's National Assembly Speaker Georgi Pirinsky paid a working visit to Russia in October 2005, and visited Russia for parliamentary events in June and November 2006 and in May 2007. Bulgaria's Assembly Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva visited Russia from March 14 through 16, 2010.
Russia and Bulgaria have expanded their legal foundation, with over 80 intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements signed between the two countries including legal adjustments to satisfy the terms of Bulgaria's membership in the European Union.
On March 5, 2002, Russia and Bulgaria signed an agreement on mutual tourism. New Bulgarian consulates were opened in the Russian cities of Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg and simplified visa procedures were introduced for Russian tourists to increase tourist traffic from Russia. According to reports, some 300,000 Russian tourists visited Bulgaria in 2009.