A Bulgarian comedian, who back in the communist era, was popular as an imitator of former dictator Todor Zhivkov, has been appointed on the staff of the country's General Consulate at Chicago in the United States.

“Dimitar Tudzharov will work with the big Bulgarian community in Chicago, which he knows so well,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vessela Cherneva announced.

According to her the nomination of the comedian, known widely as Shkumbata, has been approved by an attestation commission following a request by Bozhidar Dimitrov, Minister without Portfolio for Bulgarians Abroad.

“Mr Tudzharov's departure for Chicago is due very soon,” Cherneva added.

When approached by journalists, Shkumbata jokingly declined to comment.

The comedian will join the team of Lila Georgieva, whose posting as Bulgaria's consul in Chicago a year ago caused a bit of a splash, with a ripple effect back to her homeland.

The scandal erupted after Georgieva posted on her Web site a photo that shows her looking back over her shoulder at the camera, clad in minimalist underpants.

Two years earlier, her superiors, confronting her with the revealing shot, had sentenced Georgieva to the diplomatic-service equivalent of Siberia - a year of pushing paper in Sofia, after which she passed over a chance to be consul in Brazil.

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