Bulgaria will not provide Ukraine with new financial assistance to purchase weapons and is halting supplies of weapons and ammunition from military stockpiles. This was stated by Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev to journalists in Dublin.
According to the outlet, Radev said that Bulgaria is currently subject to an excessive budget deficit procedure. The country is facing difficulties with its reserves, so under the current conditions it cannot provide assistance.
“As for financial assistance, we ourselves are in an excessive deficit procedure, and Ms Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly asked us to reduce the deficit below the 3% limit,” the Prime Minister said.
Rumen Radev has often expressed pro-Russian positions, especially after the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. He has several times blamed Europe for the ongoing war.
- In October, the country’s government said it would refrain from further funding of lethal weapons for Ukraine through the European Peace Facility (EPF) and would finance only non-lethal assistance.
- The decision was justified by Bulgaria’s strategic interest “in ending hostilities near its borders, as well as in supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while opposing a prolonged military confrontation”.
- Bulgaria has previously voiced refusals to provide our country with various types of assistance. The country withdrew from the ‘coalition of the willing’ and also distanced itself from the anti-ballistic coalition.
- In the summer of this year, Bulgaria refused to provide military assistance to Ukraine, despite being a European leader in the production of Soviet-standard ammunition.