Office of the Historian

874.51/5–2145: Telegram

The United States Representative in Bulgaria (Barnes) to the Secretary of State

Sofia, May 21, 1945—11 p.m.
[Received May 21—9:18 a.m.]

258. A remark by Minister of Finance50 the other evening seems interesting enough to telegraph. He said it now costs Bulgarian Govt three and one half billion leva a month in addition to the regular budget to support Soviet troops of occupation and the Bulgarian Army at front and that these expenditures will have a disastrous effect on Bulgarian economy if they continue indefinitely beyond cessation of hostilities in Europe. Repeated to Moscow as No. 123.

Barnes
  1. Petko Stoyanov.↩