Will Bulgaria Send Troops to Ukraine? Acting PM Clarifies (UPDATED)

Politics | July 4, 2024, Thursday // 11:43|  views

Acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev addressed the National Assembly regarding Bulgaria's stance at the upcoming NATO summit in Washington, USA. The session, requested to be classified by "There Is Such a People" (TISP) chairman Toshko Yordanov, focused on Bulgaria's unvoted commitments for the summit, deemed crucial for national sovereignty.

Glavchev emphasized in an open session before the meeting was classified that Bulgarian troops will not be deployed to Ukraine. He assured the public that such a topic has not been on the agenda nor will it be considered.

The details of Bulgaria's position at the NATO summit are classified and cannot be disclosed, according to government officials. Recently, Glavchev announced that the information would be placed in the Secret Registry of the Parliament, accessible to all MPs interested in reviewing it.

"There is nothing worrisome in the position, Bulgaria's national interests have been taken into account, as well as allied interests", he assured.

Before that, Kornelia Ninova from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) demanded that the acting Prime Minister Glavchev and the acting Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov either declassify the document with the position, or that the session of the parliament be closed. "We cannot discuss classified information", Ninova explained, but noted that the document was read in the secret office by only 12 deputies. According to her, closing the meeting would increase the fears of dragging the country into war.

"The contracts with the other NATO member countries are secret and cannot be declassified", Glavchev explained. "We are a caretaker government and I thought the position should be discussed in the National Assembly", he added. "In the position, there is not even a thought about the participation of Bulgarian troops in Ukraine", stressed the Prime Minister.

He explained that the main topics on the agenda of the anniversary meeting in Washington are related to support for Ukraine, strengthening the deterrent and defense potential of the Alliance, deepening the alliance's partnerships with the Asia-Pacific region - Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of South Korea etc.

"Regarding the support for Ukraine, Bulgaria's position is based on our consistent national commitments expressed at different levels and formats of the Alliance as the only way to guarantee lasting peace in Europe", added Glavchev. Political and practical support for Ukraine remains a priority for Bulgaria, he emphasized. The Prime Minister recalled that with seven decisions of the National Assembly, Bulgaria provides a wide range of measures to assist Kyiv - political, military, humanitarian and restorative, and this is done without violating our defense capabilities.

Among the most important decisions from the Summit in Washington will be the creation of a stable and predictable mechanism for the coordination of military aid and training of the Ukrainian armed forces, the prime minister explained. In his words, this decision categorically does not involve NATO and Bulgaria as a country in the war, but leads to sustainable assistance to Ukraine in its primal right of self-defense.

Bulgaria is in favor of reaffirming NATO's support for Kyiv with military technical means, training of personnel outside the territory of Ukraine, explained Dimitar Glavchev. He assured that Bulgaria consistently defends the position that the financial mechanism should be based on a fair distribution of the burden between the allies, as well as on an objective assessment of the financial equivalent of the contribution. "All this should be seen as a deepening of Ukraine's integration into NATO and a bridge to its future membership", Glavchev pointed out.

Late in the day, in a session before the National Assembly, Acting Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov unequivocally stated that Bulgaria has neither discussed nor plans to send military personnel, armed or unarmed, to Ukraine. BTA reported on the minister's remarks during a parliamentary hearing initiated by the BSP group to address Bulgaria's non-participation in Ukraine's military conflict.

Zapryanov emphasized, "The sending of armed or unarmed Bulgarian military personnel to Ukraine, for any reason, has never been discussed, is not being discussed, and will not be discussed." He clarified that such decisions fall exclusively under the purview of the National Assembly.

Acknowledging public concerns about Ukraine's conflict and Bulgaria's involvement, Zapryanov addressed what he described as a significant amount of misinformation circulating, particularly on social media. "There is a powerful wave of misinformation exploiting people's natural fears," he noted. He further criticized certain politicians for making provocative and entirely false statements about Bulgaria's military engagement in Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense has published an official government position reaffirming Bulgaria's stance against sending military personnel to Ukraine. This stance is publicly available on the ministry's website, aiming to clarify Bulgaria's role amid ongoing discussions and speculations surrounding the conflict.


Tags: Glavchev, Bulgaria, Ukraine, troops

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