“Strikes against Russia should not be launched from our territory” – Bulgarian politician
More and more Bulgarian politicians support the country’s President Rumen Radev, who opposes the provision of heavy weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the participation of Bulgarian military personnel in the war in Ukraine.
Dimitar Gardev, a candidate for the European Parliament and one of the leaders of the "There is such a people" electoral bloc, made this statement in an interview with glasove.com, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to Gardev, Bulgaria should not send troops to Ukraine or make its airfields available for strikes inside Russia . Given the recent escalation of tensions due to Russian warnings that it would strike the infrastructure of countries from which, hypothetically, airstrikes are carried out, including on Russia's internationally recognized borders, there is a huge, extremely dangerous potential that Bulgaria must avoid.
“We are categorically against the participation of Bulgarian military personnel in the conflict, as well as the provision of the territory of our country for inflicting such deep strikes that they will severely provoke a retaliatory strike. The airports from which these planes take off are a completely legitimate target, so, firstly, they cannot return there, and secondly, they cannot take off again,” said Dimitar Gardev.
According to the Bulgarian politician, what worries him most is the lack of proposals from the European Union to stop the war.
“We see such proposals from China, from Turkey, we will see proposals from Switzerland - countries that are not members of the EU. Which is completely absurd!” he emphasized.
Gardev noted with regret that the European Union is missing one of the main mechanisms in which we are strong - diplomacy, soft power.
“The escalation of this conflict is of great concern, since it contains the potential for a very rapid transition to a tactical nuclear conflict on European territory. And tactical means are somewhere around 500 and 5500 km - for Europe this is truly a strategic nuclear war,” the politician emphasized.
According to him, the parliamentary group "There is such a people" is not opposed to political and economic support for Ukraine, or even providing Kyiv with light weapons, but is opposed to the supply of heavy systems to Ukraine . He emphasized the difference between military and military-technical assistance.
“Military-technical assistance includes the repair of weapons and military equipment, the supply of equipment such as protective clothing, medical equipment, light weapons and ammunition - but in no case the supply of heavy systems that are absolutely necessary for the Bulgarian army to maintain any combat capabilities.
That is why we categorically voted against sending S-200 missiles, we are against sending S-300, Tochka operational-technical missiles, Bulgarian aircraft and Bulgarian tanks. The differences are very obvious, and we will continue to defend this position,” emphasized Dimitar Gardev.
The parliamentary faction “There are such people” has 11 of the 240 parliamentary seats in the People’s Assembly of Bulgaria. They are not yet represented in the European Parliament.
"There should be no attacks on Russia from our territory" - Bulgarian politician