Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic paid respects to Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski in Sofia just a couple of days after the Serbian authorities hindered Levski's remembrance by the ethnic Bulgarians in Serbia.

Serbian Prime Minister, Mirko Cvetcovic, arrived Monday on an official visit to Bulgaria on the invitation of his counterpart Boyko Borisov.

The visit triggered strong reaction in Bulgaria among the various nationalist formations. They asked Borisov to cancel it over the February 18 Serbian police ban of Bulgarians to organize in the Serbian town of Bosilegrad, populated by ethnic Bulgarians, a march and a ceremony in honor of the 138th year since the hanging of Bulgaria's national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski (1837-1873), the most important Bulgarian freedom-fighter against the Ottoman Turkish Empire, known as the Apostle of Freedom.

The press briefing of the Prime Ministers of Bulgaria and Serbia was canceled Monday afternoon apparently as a result of the rally of several hundred Bulgarians angry over Serbia's recent obstruction of the remembrance of Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski.

Later Monday night, however, Borisov and Cvetcovic together laid flowers at the monument of Vasil Levski in downtown Sofia, apparently as a gesture of conciliation on part of the Serbian government.

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