site.btaGERB and Socialist Party Clash over Bulgarian Arms Export to Ukraine

The formerly ruling GERB and the power-sharing Socialist party clashed Monday over whether or not Bulgaria exports weapons to Ukriane. GERB says that Bulgarian military export has increased significantly since February and it is mostly what Ukraine uses but the exports reach Ukraine through the back door. That is vehemently denied by Socialist party officials including leader and Economy Minister Kornelia Ninova, whose Ministry is in charge of issuing permits for export of weapons and dual-use goods.

At a news briefing on Monday, GERB leader Boyko Borissov was asked whether Bulgaria should be sending arms to Ukraine and he said it should, like the rest of the democratic world, and that it is already happening but "through the back door". "Bulgarian export of ammunition has increased many-fold since February, the ordnance factories are working at full speed and making exactly what is being used in Ukraine," he said.

At a news conference in the southern town of Stara Zagora, MP Hristo Gadjev (GERB), who is deputy chair of the parliamentary defence committee, said that from February to April 13, Bulgarian export of arms, ammunition and dual-use goods increased three times, by over BGN 400 million. That transpires from Ninova's reply to a question posted on Parliament's website, he specified.

Gadjev also said: "This export is to private companies, not state-owned ones, and we can assume that much of it ends up in Ukraine. Sending arms to Ukraine is the right thing to do but why do it in this secretive manner?"

He said that two flights from Sofia Airport to Rzeszów in Poland on April 4 and 5 delivered 600,000 30-mm and 40-mm projectiles worth BGN 23.5 million under a deal between a Bulgarian and a Polish company. Rzeszów is only 100 km from the Ukrainian border, added this MP.

Deputy Prime Minister Kornelia Ninova has persistently denied any export of Bulgarian arms to Ukraine or Russia is taking place. "Borissov, you are lying! Bulgaria is not exporting to Ukraine or Russia," she said as quoted by her party's press office. In a Facebook post, she said that no certificate has been issued for military export to an end-recipient in Ukraine.

Socialist floor leader Georgi Svilenski said in a position circulated by the party press office that Gadjev was merely speculating and suggesting that the Bulgarian exporter's partner in the Rzeszów deal has submitted false documents about the destination of the export.

Svilenski warns that GERB's allegations might stir up an international scandal.