The new Bulgarian envoy Radev

Simeon Radev, Bulgarian ambassador to London, 1935–38.

paid me a visit. A middle-aged man, of professorial appearance and build, speaks decent Russian. He is writing a treatise on the history of Russo-Bulgarian relations in a spirit antagonistic to tsarism. He has already published two volumes and is preparing the third. He asked for help in getting material from our archives. Radev has been somewhat infected by Pan-Slavism. He recalled the Slavophiles, who asserted that the Russian nation is destined to resolve the ‘social question’ and thereby fulfil its special global ‘mission’. ‘And now this has come true!’ he exclaimed. He spoke at length about Bulgaria’s desire to live in peace and tranquillity and to maintain good relations with the USSR, France and all her neighbours. He became agitated when I told him that we would welcome Bulgaria’s accession to the Balkan Entente, insisting that it was not so essential: peace could be achieved without it. On parting, he expressed the wish to meet more often and to speak heart-to-heart.