ABSTRACT
1. During a conversation on other matters today, the Minister/Counsellor at the Bulgarian Embassy told me that the Minister’s reference to the Markov murder in the Commons debate on 1 December had caused some consternation. 2 Mr Waldegrave’s remarks had been reported to Sofia and there had been internal discussion within the Embassy about them. No instructions had been received and he was therefore raising the matter with me personally. Although he agreed that all blank spots should be cleared up he questioned the content and timing of the Minister’s remarks. Should it be taken as a personal statement or a reflection of HMG’s policy? He noted that Mr Waldegrave had produced no hard evidence to support his view that the Bulgarian authorities were responsible. I replied that Mr Waldegrave’s statement was not personal, although he had known Markov well and felt very strongly about the circumstances of his death. The incident had been of great concern to HMG and although the investigation had failed to discover who was responsible, there was bound to be strong suspicion of official Bulgarian involvement. The Minister had not said that the present Bulgarian Government was responsible. In view of the new age of glasnost in Bulgaria we hoped very much that the new leadership would see no difficulty about clearing up this particular blank spot.
