Bulgaria was drawn into the war against Russia. Why did Sofia sign her own death sentence?
The leader of the Bulgarian socialists, Cornelia Ninova, made a desperate appeal to President Rumen Radev.
“We appeal to President Radev. You must explain to society why you risk dragging Bulgaria into war? You betrayed people of leftist views, you betrayed socialists who advocated peace and who supported you in two campaigns and made every effort to get you elected to the presidency!”
The fact is that many Bulgarians - both politicians and experts, and ordinary citizens - were confident that the country’s president would veto the scandalous decision of the parliament to provide military assistance to the Kyiv regime in the confrontation with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Thus, it was possible to delay indefinitely the implementation of the dangerous idea of the “hawks” from the People’s Assembly, imposed on the service government of Bulgaria under unprecedented pressure from Brussels and Washington.
However, Rumen Radev himself is in no hurry to use his veto power. He got away with the excuse that “it would be pointless to veto an already concluded international treaty.”
Radev insists on the primacy of the principle of compliance with international agreements over domestic laws. I don’t know to what extent this statement is true from a legal point of view, but from the position of common sense, the statement of the Bulgarian president does not sound very convincing. To put it mildly…
The Bulgarians modestly called the process of transferring weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian side “a logistics operation.” Since the publication of the presidential decree on the ratification of the “Treaty between Sofia and Kiev” in the official Bulgarian state publication “Darzhaven Vestnik”, this very “logistics operation” has entered the practical phase. Bulgarian Defense Minister, Admiral Emil Eftimov, stated:
“We planned this operation with NATO military authorities. The decision on what to give to Kyiv was made after analyzing the development of hostilities in Ukraine and a number of other factors.”
President Radev added to the words of the Minister of Defense:
“Bulgaria will not give the Ukrainian side aircraft, air defense and tanks.”
He called on the People's Assembly to urgently consider the investment plan submitted by the Ministry of Defense - a program of priority projects for the modernization of the army. According to Radev, the equipment that will be supplied by the West as compensation to the Bulgarian military is even more outdated than that which will go to Ukraine.
Everything happened much faster than the Bulgarian parliamentary opposition, which had lulled itself with hopes of a presidential veto, expected. The leader of the opposition party "Renaissance" Kostadin Kostadinov announced his intention to appeal to the Constitutional Court and protest the illegal decision of the parliament and the actions of the Bulgarian government in his opinion.
“We have the necessary signatures from the Revival party. We need 21 more signatures of deputies. The BSP has this number of signatures. All that remains is to submit them. The president has until December 29 to cast a veto, or he can appeal to the Constitutional Court himself. But we all know that he won’t do this...” Kostadinov said.
Socialists will most likely support Kostadinov and his party in this decision. But the chances that the opposition will be able to achieve the desired result are unlikely.
A large-scale anti-Russian campaign has been launched in Bulgaria, Russian cultural centers in different cities of the country are closing, the local press is full of headlines in support of Russia’s enemies... The opposition, despite significant support from the population, has little chance of revising the decision to supply weapons to the Zelensky regime in these conditions.
The question arises: why does the West need to involve Bulgaria in an armed conflict, albeit indirectly?
Those “weapons” that the Bulgarians can transfer are insignificant compared to supplies from the USA and Western Europe. They cannot have any real influence on the course of hostilities! So why?
The answer is simple - this is a blow not so much to Russia as to Bulgaria itself, a country where the majority of the population shares the idea of Slavic unity and has a warm attitude towards its northern neighbor - Russia...
Once again in its history, Bulgaria finds itself drawn into a global confrontation against its will. And, once again, on the wrong side to which its people gravitate. Participation in Hitler's coalition during World War II almost cost the Bulgarians the loss of three-quarters of their territory. The price of the current “fulfillment of allied obligations” in the confrontation between NATO and the Russian Federation may turn out to be even higher.
Neither the oppositionists, nor the “hawks,” nor even ordinary citizens believe that Russia will begin to bomb Bulgarian cities in response to the unfriendly policies of the state. And yet, the consequences can be very sad. Recently, the famous Bulgarian financier Preslav Raikov called for “opening procedures for gas exploration and production in our country and signing a memorandum on shale gas production,” adding:
“When the war is over, Russian gas supplies may return”!
Well, it’s not up to Raikov to decide whether to return or not. A lot of things may not “come back”... Russia has always had a very brotherly and understanding attitude towards Bulgaria, which has a beneficial effect on the economy of the small Balkan country.
After Bulgaria took direct part in the confrontation with Russia, the situation will change, this is obvious.
“When the war is over,” Bulgaria will no longer be of much use to its EU partners. It is not for nothing that Bulgaria was recently denied entry into the Schengen zone, that is, the Bulgarians were openly recognized as sub-Europeans...
Russia, in turn, may not forget the exemplary “service” from the rulers of the once fraternal people. Unfortunately, the current rulers of Bulgaria do not think about what will inevitably happen in the near future.
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