Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has denied allegations of being "hawkish" on Russia.

"From the distance of time, with five years of this term having passed, I do not see a single evidence, a single symptom that would make me change my attitude to what the President of Russia is doing."

Since 2014, Plevneliev has been among the staunchest critics of his counterpart Vladimir Putin and Russia's move to incorporate Crimea and back developments in Eastern Ukraine.

But Prime Minister Boyko Borisov earlier in October slammed him for not having contributed to bilateral relations.

"That I was the first democratically elected head of state [of Bulgaria] to oppose the Russian President systematically and categorically does not make me a hawk at all," Plevneliev has said in an interview with private national bTV station.

The head of state has made it clear that there is "no ground" for him to change his position as of the moment.

Difference between Russia and the Kremlin, between the Russian President and the Russian people, Plevneliev has explained, in defense of his move to award a Stara Planina order the former Ambassador of Moscow to Sofia, Yury Isakov.