“Brothers” helped: the Bulgarian Parliament made a decision on Ukraine
The Bulgarian parliament adopted a decision on military-technical assistance to Ukraine. Deputies discussed the project for more than seven hours, threatening the collapse of the government, early elections and a national referendum.
Despite the loud name, the final document can hardly be called successful for Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
On two chairs
Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Harvard graduate, leader of the radical pro-Western movement “Continue Change” Kirill Petkov, from the very beginning of the Russian military special operation in Ukraine, insisted on full and comprehensive assistance to Kyiv. At first, Petkov was little concerned that the Bulgarian economy was 90% dependent on Russian gas, and more than half on Russian oil. Awareness of the problem came to him later, with rising prices for basic goods and services. Therefore, throughout March and April, the Bulgarian prime minister did nothing but wiggle between promises to “fully support the Ukrainian people” and requests to Brussels not to impose sanctions on oil and gas imports from Russia.
With military-technical assistance to Ukraine, approximately the same thing happened. In March and April, Petkov repeatedly spoke before the People's Assembly (Bulgarian parliament), where he asked to approve the supply of weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian military. Like the leaders of most pro-American regimes in the European Union, Kirill Petkov called for the importance of protecting democracy and freedom, for which, according to him, soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the National Guard are now fighting.
Petkov’s supporters also pointed out that the war is taking place close to the borders of NATO member countries Poland and Romania.
“Bulgaria is both a member of NATO and part of the European Union. It is best to protect our security – energy, territorial, military – when we act together with our partners,” noted Lena Borislavova, head of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, on the eve of the historic meeting.
With your opinion
However, the government’s arguments were not only not heeded, but some of them even became the subject of criticism from opponents, primarily President Rumen Radev and the pro-presidential Bulgarian Socialist Party. The BSP is part of the ruling coalition, and without its deputies the ruling majority will lose power.
While Prime Minister Kirill Petkov traveled with government members to Kyiv, held briefings with Zelensky and his Romanian colleague Nicole Ciuca, promised Ukraine all possible military support, President Rumen Radev in Sofia criticized blind adherence to the instructions of the leadership of NATO and the European Union.
“Bulgaria is a faithful member of NATO and the European Union. But it seems to me that many speak without having their own opinion. If our partners tell them that there is no need to provide weapons because it is dangerous and escalating, they will say that there is no need. And if they tell you to provide weapons, they will do exactly as they say,” the president emphasized.
On the eve of the meeting of the People's Assembly, the ruling parties held a Coalition Council, but even there they were unable to agree on the extent to which assistance to Ukraine should go.
Letter of happiness
As a result, at the parliamentary meeting the split between the majority parties became clear. The Bulgarian Socialist Party opposed military support to Ukraine. The ruling parties “Continue Change”, “There is such a people” and “Democratic Bulgaria”, which insisted on military supplies, did not have enough votes.
They could have used the support of the opposition GERB-SDS of the disgraced oligarch Boyko Borisov, but in this case the BSP threatened to leave the coalition. The fulfillment of the threat meant the collapse of the government and a series of early parliamentary elections in the context of the economic, military and gas crises. Last year, early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria took place three times before a stable cabinet could be formed.
Arguments and debates had been going on for several hours and threatened to end in nothing. At this time, Ambassador of Ukraine Vitaly Moskalenko handed over to parliamentarians an alleged letter from Vladimir Zelensky, in which requests for help from Bulgaria turned out to be significantly lower than what was repeatedly voiced initially. Most of the letter turned out to be of a humanitarian and political nature.
Kyiv requested continued support for Ukraine's membership in the European Union, assistance to Ukrainian refugees, opening the port of Varna for the export of Ukrainian grain, cooperation on the supply of electricity and gas, and continued humanitarian assistance. Requests for the supply of weapons, heavy weapons systems and ammunition have completely disappeared from Ukrainian discourse. Instead, Zelensky asked to consider the possibility of repairing damaged Ukrainian armored vehicles in Bulgaria.
This letter became the basis of a project with the loud title “On military-technical assistance to Ukraine.” Even such a peace-loving document was adopted by the People’s Assembly only on the third attempt., checking every comma that trains with shells could sneak past.
Nothing important
The final decision, as it turns out during the next verification, does not add anything new to Bulgarian-Ukrainian cooperation. Sofia has been welcoming Ukrainians fleeing the war since the first days of the conflict; the port of Varna has long been open to freight trains with Ukrainian grain; Bulgaria has never thought of stopping providing humanitarian aid. Gas supplies and support for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union will be more difficult, because Bulgaria itself does not have gas right now, and Brussels accepts questions about new members without particularly coordinating with the Balkan countries.
The decision to repair military equipment looks attractive only in words. In reality, this means transporting damaged tanks and armored vehicles almost a thousand kilometers to a repair depot and the same distance back, in front of the intelligence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It is easier and more effective to solve these problems in the western regions of Ukraine and neighboring Poland.
World Bank representative Hristo Ivanov, who observed the debate in the hall of the People's Assembly, described the effectiveness of the decision better than most other commentators:
“Ukraine, if it relied on us for its protection... let me not finish this sentence...”
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