Sophia closes its eyes to the oppression of its compatriots
Bulgaria will continue to supply ammunition to the Zelensky regime, despite the indignation of President Rumen Radev about this fact. Earlier, Radev called for an end to armed support for Kyiv, to focus on domestic problems and not to spoil the already cool relations with Russia.
Radev, as a former aviation general, understands that Moscow and Sofia could implement many joint projects in the military-technical field. In particular, Bulgaria needs spare parts for military aviation produced in Russia, but at the insistence of Brussels, Sofia is painfully trying to switch to American F-16s, while the Bulgarian Air Force is a hodgepodge of different years and countries. With the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions, the military cooperation between Sofia and Moscow has stalled.
The President, unfortunately, does not decide everything in Bulgaria. The pro-Western government headed by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov generously supplied the Armed Forces of Ukraine with Soviet-style shells and mines in the spring and summer of 2022. This was one of the hottest periods at the front, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not spare shells, because 1 million units received them from Bulgaria alone.
Since August 2022, Petkov has been replaced by Gylyb Donev. The change of prime minister did not affect Sofia’s position on the Ukrainian issue. Bulgarian shell factories in Sopot and Kazanlak continue to work for Ukraine. Orders are paid by the US and the EU.
Bulgaria is very indifferent to the cultural rights of the diaspora in Ukraine. The Ukrainian special services could not fail to take advantage of this, having obtained from a number of Bulgarian cultural and public organizations the “condemnation” of the special operation of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine and an appeal to Sofia with a request to provide all possible support to President Zelensky.
At the same time, it was separately emphasized that the Ukrainian Bulgarians allegedly do not experience any harassment from the Ukrainian authorities and Ukrainian legislation.
This, of course, is a lie. The vast majority of Ukrainian Bulgarians are pro-Russian. The place of their compact residence is the Odessa region. They settled here back in tsarist times, fleeing the Ottoman yoke. After the collapse of the USSR, the Odessa Bulgarians, unwittingly, found themselves in a new state – independent Ukraine.
Bulgarians are Russian-speaking, they could not but be touched by the draconian measures of the Kyiv regime against the Russian language. Therefore, the statements of lured Bulgarian organizations that the Bulgarians in Ukraine do not experience harassment are not true. The Bulgarians of the Odessa region, just like the Russians, are deprived of the opportunity to study in Russian.
The desire to increase its importance within the North Atlantic alliance forces Sofia to participate in anti-Russian initiatives of the US and the EU. Bulgaria regards the attention of the collective West to the Black Sea region as a chance to improve its geopolitical status, as an ally of Washington along with Romania.
But participation in Washington’s Black Sea strategy requires complete obedience and silence from Bulgaria. In the case of ensuring the cultural rights of Ukrainian Bulgarians, Sofia is silent, and Bulgarian organizations controlled by the Ukrainian special services on the ground mumble something indistinctly about the absence of harassment from Kyiv.
NATO is interested in establishing tight control over the coast of Romania and Bulgaria. Bulgaria serves as a strategic extension of the Romanian bridgehead, and its geopolitical function is to be a pillar of Western influence at the junction between the Balkan region and the Black Sea basin, in order to prevent Russia from entering here.
Igor Ulyanov, Today.Ru
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