Disrespect to rules is in Russian blood. The situation is similar to a service sector (including flight attendants,) where in most cases Russians are quite arrogant to serve other people.
I flew several times with TSO and UTA and I was quite satisfied with level of their service. I didn't notice any difference in relation to an average western company. Also ground services seems to be OK. Deicing was always done very carefully, un/loading baggages too. Maybe I can remember one a little creative t/o
but surely no one was arrogant to me. Security rules at DME were very strict, similar to GB, but I was not surprise - it was after that terrible bombing attack.
Could it be that it's just a typo? Someone forgetting a number?
Yes of course it can be a typo, but in Russian they comment it "ludicrously" little... But those articles describes also very poor economic situation of TAK, problems of Bulgarian investors, blind management, long term debts for fuel, months without a salaries, crews going away, local political pressure etc etc. I am not sure that is true, it can be biased or written by a sensationalist journalist.