site.btaPM Petkov to POLITICO Europe: "We Want Everybody to See Bulgaria as Strong NATO, EU Member"

"Bulgaria is not anymore a soft country that has only balancing acts," Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said in an interview for POLITICO Europe. "We want everybody to see Bulgaria as a strong NATO member, EU member, not hedging, not unpredictable, speaking in one voice."

He added that the days when members of Bulgaria's elite cozied up to the Kremlin while continuing to further integrate into the EU and NATO are over

Petkov also rejected the idea of "spheres of influence," whereby bigger countries like Russia get to impose de facto buffer zones beyond their borders.

"I really don’t like the idea of somebody taking up a map of Europe and, drawing with a pen, saying this can happen up to there," the Prime Minister said.

Symbolically, Petkov said Ukraine "would get my vote today" to become an EU candidate country. "My heart says we cannot leave Ukraine alone," he said.

But while Bulgaria has "fully supported" all of the sanctions on Russia up until now, Petkov signaled he still had to take account of political sensitivities at home.

He admitted it would be tough for his country to join allies in sending weapons to Ukraine.

He also does not endorse the idea of a no-fly zone over Ukraine and couldn't commit to sanctioning Russian oil due to Bulgaria's dependency on energy from Moscow.

POLITICO describes Petkov as "a Harvard-educated economist and political newcomer who rose to fame in Bulgaria last year as a warrior against government corruption. He’s quite the contrast to his predecessor, Boyko Borissov — the conservative former bodyguard and firefighter who was forced from power last April by mass protests over graft. In the vacuum left by Borissov’s government collapse, the 41-year-old entrepreneur became interim economy minister in a caretaker administration. He quickly gained popularity as a minister after exposing and denouncing state-backed corruption. He became prime minister just as Russia was increasing its threats toward Kyiv and massing troops on Ukraine’s borders."