Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev is “a scoundrel and a lackey of the CIA”, said the leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky for a show on Rossia 1 TV channel.

Zhirinovsky, who is known for his ultra-nationalist stance and rants on various topics, also accused Plevneliev on not knowing Bulgaria's history.

“He (Plevneliev) does not know Bulgarian history,” Zhirinovski told the TV channel. “If he opens the history books he will see that Russia liberated Bulgaria from the Turks. Was our army back then nationalistic? All of Bulgaria is grateful that Russia liberated them from the Turkish slavery. They should expel this president. This is not a president, but an ordinary lackey of CIA. He attacks Russia – his saviour – instead of crawling in our feet. And the Bulgarians – in World War One are against us, in World War Two are against us and now are in NATO. They say nothing about the Russians lying dead in Donbass. Who killed them? - The Ukrainian nationalists. This is not a president, but a scoundrel.”

Zhirinovsky's statement is yet another salvo in the Russian verbal attacks against Bulgaria, which intensified last week with deputy PM's Dmitry Rogozin's Tweet accusing Bulgaria of betrayal and Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Alexander Lukasevic's criticism against Plevneliev for calling Russia a “nationalist aggressive state”.