Some ten months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to conduct a “special operation to protect Donbas”. This became the biggest invasion of a European country by another one since WWII (1939-1945).
Bulgaria’s reactions
On the morning of 24 February, President Rumen Radev convened a meeting of state institutions in connection with the military actions in Ukraine. "We assessed, according to the data of all [security] services, that there is currently no direct military threat to Bulgaria's security, but there are a number of risks," Radev said after the meeting.
"We don't deliberately use belligerent rhetoric and it was no coincidence that I quoted President Putin, who said that this is a special operation, because in this way neither NATO nor President Putin completely closes the door to diplomacy," then-Defence Minister Stefan Yanev said in Parliament after lawmakers heard the security services behind closed doors.
Following Stefan Yanev's stance, various political formations demanded his resignation, and on 28 February then Prime Minister Kiril Petkov formally asked for it. On 1 March, Stefan Yanev was dismissed and replaced by Dragomir Zakov.
Aid for Ukraine
A debate started among the public whether Bulgaria should or should not provide weapons to Ukraine. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and Vazrazhdane were against.
On 28 April a Bulgarian delegation, headed by then Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, visited Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Petkov said that Bulgaria would make every effort to participate in overcoming the consequences of the military conflict and repairing the damage.
On 4 May, the Bulgarian Parliament approved the provision of humanitarian, financial and military-technical assistance to Ukraine, according to Bulgaria's capabilities. The Parliament's decision did not include sending arms to Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the conflict, thousands have lined up at Bulgarian Red Cross stations across the country to leave aid for Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria, as well as for people in Ukraine.
On 19 December, the caretaker Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov visited Kiyv and met with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov. While visiting the Ukrainian capital, Stoyanov pointed out that since the beginning of the war Bulgaria has provided BGN 448 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.Bulgarian expelled 70 Russian diplomats and staff
On June 28, the then outgoing Prime Minister, Kiril Petkov, announced that Bulgaria is expelling 70 diplomats and staff from the Russian Federation’s Embassy in Sofia. On August 5, Russia announced the expulsion of 14 Bulgarian diplomats and staff as a reciprocal measure.
Military aid for Ukraine
On 3 November, the newly elected members of the 48th National Assembly decided that the Council of Ministers should submit to the National Assembly a draft decision on the provision of military and military-technical support to Ukraine.
A month later, on 9 December, Parliament decided for Bulgaria to send military and technical support to Ukraine. The amount and type of arms are classified.
The parliamentary groups of GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Democratic Bulgaria and [former defence minister Stefan Yanev's] Bulgarian Rise unanimously supported the decision. One Continue the Change MP abstained and the rest voted in favour. Vazrazhdane voted unanimously against. One Socialist MP voted in favour and the rest of his colleagues voted against.
The ratification of the agreement between the Ministries of Defence of Bulgaria and Ukraine on the free provision of arms, equipment and ammunition followed on 16 December. The ratification of the document was supported by 166 MPs and 48 MPs were against.
On 23 December, the law on the ratification of the agreement was promulgated in the State Gazette. On the same day, BSP leader Korneliya Ninova addressed President Rumen Radev and said that the head of state owed the public an explanation as to why he had taken the risk of "dragging Bulgaria into the war".
On the day of the promulgation of the agreement between Bulgaria and Ukraine, the parliamentary groups of BSP for Bulgaria and Vazrazhdane submitted a request to the Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the decision to provide military and military-technical assistance to Ukraine.
On 29 December the caretaker government approved a draft supplementary agreement between the ministries of defence of Bulgaria and Ukraine. The amendment is related to scrapping paragraph 3 of Article 1 of the Agreement signed on 5 December this year, which provided for the possibility to amend the list of the items to be provided, constituting Annex 1 to the Agreement, by a decision of the Council of Ministers at the request of the Ukrainian side.
Subsequent assistance to the Ukrainian side will be provided by supplementary agreements, which will also be subject to ratification by the Bulgarian Parliament. The final decision will thus lie with the Legislature.
The proposed change has been agreed with the Ukrainian side, which has given its consent, the government press office said.
/RY/
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