Soviet Russians or Bulgarians?

[PKeating]

Are the two officers Russian or Bulgarian?

Edited December 31, 2012 by Nick

[Stogieman]

Hi Prosper, middle guy looks Soviet based on collar tabs.... but that looks like a Bulgarian WW2 Jubilee Medal hanging there?. Left guy could be Bulgarian, or Soviet. General officer Boards for both were pretty much the same. I can see a school rhomb in top photo, but again, from a distance, could be Sov or Bulgaria. Last guy's uniform possibly Romanian, or some other? Ribbon bar is unlike any Bulgarian ones I've handled from post '45. Any chance of bigger scans of the insignia.

[Gordon Craig]

Prosper,

The man in the centre and the one on your left are wearing Soviet uniforms. The colour is sea green. Below is a picture of one of these tunics from my collection. The pants do not go with this tunic.

Regards,

Gordon

[PKeating]

Thanks Rick. It is a tough call. The officer on the right is British, the father of a friend of mine, who spent some time in Bulgaria. It looks a bit like the mid-1960s, as the Brit was a young Indian Army Para officer in WW2, so maybe these are Russian officers, perhaps from the embassy, and maybe that's a 20th Anniversary Medal the man in the middle is wearing. I have asked for a mega-scan.

P

[PKeating]

We crossed in the ether, Gordon! Thank you so much!

Paddy

[mengeleev]

The ID in the centre of the scan is a Bulgarian ID document issued by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to a Col. John Burden Sanderson, place and date of issue Sofia (which is the capital of Bulgaria), 22 March 1961.

[Lukasz Gaszewski]

The guy in the centre is an artillery colonel. As he is wearing the Lenin Anniversary Medal and no 30th Anniversary of Victory Medal, the photo must have been taken between late 1970 and early 1975.

[IrishGunner]

A favorite topic of conversation between fomer Warsaw Pact and NATO officers during my time as military attache in Europe was "Where were you posted during the Cold War?" I can just imagine these gentlemen exchanging WWII war stories...would have been interesting times in the 50s-70s.