Bulgarian politicians that are directly involved still do not admit whether they knew Ukraine was the final destination of the record Bulgarian arms exports in 2022.
“Our (Ukrainian) partners bought the weapons from the (weapons) industry. Part of the weapons went to the Ukrainian army, but this is not because Bulgaria exported (directly to Ukraine), but because our partners imported to Ukraine,” former prime minister Kiril Petkov said on Wednesday.
“Only the Ukrainian government has the information on how many (Bulgarian) weapons reached Ukraine,” he added.
The topic of exporting fuel and weapons to Ukraine was a leading issue in the Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday. The reason for this was first given by the article in Die Welt, which concludes that Bulgaria secretly saved Ukraine in the first months of the war.
The German media claimed that this happened with the export of diesel fuel and Soviet-standard weapons in the initial phase of the war. At the beginning of the Russian aggression, the refusal of Kiril Petkov, who was prime minister then, to commit directly to military aid to Kyiv was explained by the resistance of the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party that was in the ruling coalition.
On Wednesday, EURACTIV Bulgaria published an investigation proving there is no state support for oil exports to Ukraine. The fuel was mainly produced by the Bulgarian subsidiary of the Russian oil company Lukoil, which sold it to Ukraine through Bulgaria.
The increase in the export of petroleum fuels did not occur in the first phases of the war but in the second and third phases, when Russian strikes on Ukrainian critical infrastructure began. Last October, the indirect export of Bulgarian weapons to Ukraine in 2022 was of a record quantity and worth at least €1 billion.
Die Welt points out that the Petkov cabinet used “intermediary companies in Bulgaria and abroad to open air and land supply routes through Romania, Hungary and Poland.” This information circulated in Bulgarian society, although the government did not officially confirm it.
“Bulgaria should have taken an open position and clearly stated that we support Ukraine in every possible way. This is our national interest,” said the co-chairman of “Democratic Bulgaria” Hristo Ivanov. He stated that to hide the export to Ukraine, it was necessary to go through intermediaries, which led to financial losses for the Bulgarian military companies.
Ivanov was not a part of Kiril Petkov’s government, but his party was a coalition partner.
“Hypocrisy costs money, but the important thing is that all this happened after all,” commented Ivanov.
The co-chairman of We Continue the Change and former deputy prime minister in the “Petkov” government, Asen Vasilev, said that indirect export is normal for the Bulgarian military business. “The Bulgarian military industry has always worked with contractors. They are mostly private,” Vassilev said and confirmed that Bulgaria has never directly exported weapons to Ukraine. GERB used the occasion to attack the former rulers.
“The big problem is why Kiril Petkov and (former economy minister and leader of the socialist party) Kornelia Ninova lied (about arms exports to Ukraine),” said Daniel Mitov of GERB. Ivan Chenchev of the Bulgarian Socialist Party said again that “there is not a single exported shell” for Ukraine.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
Source: euractiv.com
