President Rumen Radev talks briefly about his decision of not sending weapons to Ukraine and their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited Sofia during his European tour of collecting support from allies.
President Radev once again refused the Ukrainian demands for weapons and ammunition to tackle the Russian attacks. On his official Facebook page, he said, “In my meetings, I have always defended the Bulgarian interest, not that of other countries, and my position against the supply of weapons to Ukraine by the Bulgarian army has long been clear”.
Bulgaria's president tells Zelensky that he doesn't want to give him any weapons: "This conflict has no military solution.. we would like to more hear more of the word peace.."
But Zelensky ignores this and says: "Russia wants to destroy NATO, Europe and the European Union." pic.twitter.com/Z1CQ3EoLXJ
— Mark Alan Pearce (@PearceAlan1962) July 7, 2023
Bulgaria’s President tells Zelensky that he doesn’t want to give him weapons because the conflict has no military solution. He pointed out that Bulgaria prefers to listen to the word peace more than weapons.
The head of the state remarks that Zelensky didn’t focus on restoring peace but kept demanding weapons. Defending his decision to refuse weapons supply to Ukraine, he noted that in October 2022, he refused to support a declaration of Ukraine’s immediate accession to NATO with the straightforward motive that before the establishment of lasting peace, this means a NATO-Russia war.
Criticizing the Bulgarian politicians and parliament who opposed his decision not to arm Ukraine, he said, “Then certain politicians in Bulgaria gave a terrible howl, and today these same angry critics suddenly changed their opinion and accepted my thesis. The question is, do they have their own thinking, opinion and position at all”?
President Radev emphasizes that Bulgaria’s big problem is that some politicians do not have their own opinion and position, and nationally responsible behaviour requires them to have such.
He mentioned that sending weapons to Ukraine will put Bulgaria into a complicated and defenceless situation. Sending aid to Ukraine will empty the Bulgarian warehouses of the Bulgarian army and will take years to fill the reserves.
The head of the state also underlined the statement of the German Defence minister in which he stated that for the most developed industrial country in Europe, this process will be completed by 2030.
The Bulgarian President explained how long Bulgaria will take to restore their arsenal and how long it would remain unprotected if the country handed over the weapons to Ukraine today.