Bulgarian nationalist party Ataka seems to have a key role in the International Russian Conservative forum held March 22 in St Petersburg, Russia.

Ataka's leader Volen Siderov is one of only nine people described as "foreign participants" in a list that pops up after setting one's mouse on the "Partners and participants" section.

At the same time, Ataka's press office maintains Siderov is currently in Bulgaria, as the news website Dnevnik.bg quotes party officials as saying.

The forum is an event set up by a public organization called "The Russian National Cultural Center - People's House" - urging adherence to traditional values.

Rodina, a party founded in 2003 by a group of people that includes Russian Deputy PM (as of 2015) Sergey Rogozin, is listed first among "local" participants. Rodina was once banned from running in elections after numerous complaints of inciting racial hatred submitted by citizens.

There are nationalist parties from Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Germany (with the National Democratic Party of Germany, often described as a "neo-Nazi" structure), Italy, the UK and Belgium.

MEPs from Greece and Belgium (one ex-MEP from the UK as well) are also taking part.

An alliance set up in Brussels in February of this year, called APF (Alternative for Peace and Freedom), includes most of the parties that are attending.

At the same time traditional nationalist-leaning forces, such as France's National Front, are not in the list.

Aleksandr Koffmann, the "foreign minister" of self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic", is also attending.

The website of this event claims that 50 reports will be delivered during the event, which includes as many as 400 participants from 15 countries.

There is also a message on the homepage reading: "Enemies of Russia can't stop the International Russian Conservative Forum".

"We can see how many Euro-Atlantic countries have actually stepped on the way of denying their roots, deviating from the Christian values that form the foundation of the Western civilization. Moral principles and traditional identity – national, cultural, religious or sexual are being neglected. A policy that puts on the same level a large family and same-sex partnerships, faith in God or faith in Prince of the world," a statement on the English-version of the forum's website reads.

The "introduction", which is described as part of a 2013 speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also speaks of "excesses of political correctness", and aggressive attempts in the EU to impose a non-religious social model "to the rest of the world".

In his speech, Putin calls this "a direct path to degradation and primitivism, profound demographic and moral crisis."

European and Russian leftist alliances have repeatedly voiced their shock at the event, calling for its cancellation.

The forum has left Russian observers divided with some claiming it is a project covertly orchestrated by the Kremlin as it seeks to create a "rightist Komintern", and others arguing its importance should not be exaggerated.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!