Bulgarian President opposes joining EU joint ammunition procurement plan

On Tuesday 20 June, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev opposed his country joining the initiative of the European Union to provide Ukraine with artillery shells for the war with Russia.

Source: This was reported by European Pravda with reference to BNR

Details: After the opening of the three-day forum Green Week 2023, dedicated to the green transition in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Radev told reporters that Bulgaria's participation in the EU initiative on shells for Ukraine is a mistake.

Quote: "Representing Bulgaria in the EU Council, I defended this position; it became clear that Bulgaria will not take part in the ‘million shells for Ukraine’ initiative. If the government made that decision, I think it would be a mistake," he said.

The Bulgarian president said that the war in Ukraine is escalating, and "it carries huge risks, depletes our economies and social systems."

"I argued both in Bulgaria and in Brussels that our country should not interfere by supplying weapons for the war in Ukraine. This is not the way to end this conflict," Radev added.

The issue of sending shells to Ukraine caused an absentee dispute between Radev and Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, who believes that Bulgaria should respect its obligations.

Earlier this month, Todor Tagarev, Bulgaria's newly appointed Defence Minister, said that his country seeks to join the European Union's initiative to provide Ukraine with one million artillery shells in 12 months.

Despite prolonged political instability, Bulgaria – one of the largest producers of Soviet-era weapons in the EU – could have secretly provided Ukraine with up to a third of all the ammunition it needed at the beginning of a full-scale Russian invasion.

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