Bulgaria Parliament Committee Approves MiG Repair Deal with Poland

A committee with Bulgaria's Parliament has approved the decision of lawmakers to ratify a deal with Poland, which will overhaul six engines of Bulgarian MiG-29 aircraft at state-owned facilities.

The BGN 12 M (nearly EUR 6.137 M) deal have raised tensions between Bulgaria and Russian aircraft corporation RSK MiG, which produced most of the aircraft in service with Bulgaria's Air Force back in Soviet times.

RSK MiG maintains Poland has no license or documentation to repair MiG engines, while Warsaw disputes this.

The Russian company said on Wednesday it would not be able to guarantee flight safety of the fighter jets if Poland becomes involved in the repair, also describing Sofia's position as "counter-productive".

It earlier warned it would give up on technical maintenance of the MiG-29s if Bulgaria proceeds with the deal.

Sofia, however, says contract conditions offered by Poland were more favourable, also citing the geopolitical risk of Bulgaria not being able to retrieve some or all the engines if a further round of sanctions are introduced against Russia.

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