Bulgaria is against providing weapons to Ukraine and is even ready to veto nuclear sanctions. With such theses, the President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev spoke at the EU summit.
This opinion was not supported by most of his colleagues. The head of state called for peace without the provision of weapons, because, in his opinion, this is equal to “putting out a fire with gasoline,” writes Euractiv.
It is time, one year after the start of this bloody war, to shift the focus to measures aimed at ending it, as well as on the restoration of all diplomatic efforts in search of a peaceful solution, Radev said.
On February 9, the EU summit kicked off in Brussels, to which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also invited.
Bulgaria cannot accept sanctions on nuclear energy, because they will directly affect our nuclear energy. This cannot be allowed. We are considering all possible areas where (further sanctions) are possible. But where our interests are at stake, as in nuclear power, we are following these issues very closely, he said.
Answering the question whether Bulgaria would veto sanctions in the field of nuclear energy, he confirmed this possibility: “If necessary, we will veto, yes.”
Recall that Bulgaria in the spring of 2022 secretly supplied fuel and ammunition to Ukraine. The German edition of Welt in January 2023 said that deliveries from Bulgaria in the spring of 2022 could be up to 30% of all ammunition and up to 40% of diesel fuel that the Ukrainian army then received.
They came to such conclusions after talking with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba, Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov and Bulgarian Finance Minister Vasilev.
Petkov publicly rejected the possibility of direct military assistance to Ukraine, but the deliveries were made through intermediary companies in Romania, Hungary and Poland. The US and UK paid for the operation, according to Welt.
In December 2022, the Bulgarian government officially approved direct arms supplies to Ukraine.
On February 2, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev dissolved parliament, elections were scheduled for April. The President of Bulgaria has scheduled for April 2 the 5th elections in the country in the last two years.
So the president decided to resolve a long political impasse and serious economic problems. Radev appointed an interim government ahead of early elections.
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Source: Racurs
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