site.btaUPDATED Defence Ministry Distances Itself from Alleged Bulgarian Arms Exports to Ukraine

Bulgarian Defence Minister Dragomir Zakov told journalists here on Wednesday that his Ministry has nothing to do either with the State Consolidation Company or with Kintex or with Bulgarian arms manufacturers.

Zakov reacted to a statement made earlier in the day on National Television by former Kintex EAD Executive Director Alexander Mihailov that Bulgaria has exported weapons worth 200 million to Ukraine via Poland, specifying that he was referring to ammunition for 122-mm BM-21 GRAD multiple launch rocket systems.

"As far as I know, we do not export [weapons] to Ukraine. We cannot possibly find out whether Bulgarian arms are redirected to Ukraine. What impressed me very badly is that former senior executives of companies like Kintex take the liberty of publicly disclosing such information, I won't comment whether it is true or not, I think it is inadmissible that such information should circulate in the media," the Defence Minister pointed out.

Mihailov argued that the management replacements at the state-owned military equipment supplier and more recently at the VMZ Sopot ordnance factory were probably intended to discredit people talking about the ongoing Bulgarian arms exports to Ukraine and install loyal people in their place.

"To dispel suspicions, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev can show records from the National Customs Agency about the value of arms exported since the beginning of the war in Ukraine," Mihailov added. He said that the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry can provide data about the number of flights which transported weapons in March, April and May 2022 from Bulgarian airports to a Polish airport which is 78 km away from the Ukrainian border.

Finding of Irregularities Referred to Prosecutors

The State Consolidation Company (SCC) will alert the prosecution service about some of the findings in a report into the condition of Kintex, SCC Executive Director Smilyana Nitova told a news conference on Wednesday.

SCC is Kintex' parent company.

She specified that Mihailov and the former management of Kintex did not submit an annual financial statement for 2021 and a quarterly report for 2022. On Tuesday the new management adopted the reports, which show that the company's profits decreased 17 times from the like period of 2021.

The SCC's Board of Directors has tasked the new Kintex management with carrying out a check into the situation of the company and with submiting a report. 

On April 18, Economy and Industry Minister Kornelia Ninova dismissed the Kintex management after a check into the company's operation found a number of irregularities and a manifest conflict of interest involving Executive Director Alexander Mihailov. Ninova's Ministry had sent the report to the prosecution service and the Public Financial Inspection Agency.

Ninova has repeatedly denied that Bulgaria is sending weapons to Ukraine. According to her, after the Minsk Agreements Bulgaria halted arms exports to both Russia and Ukraine. She adamantly opposes suggestions to supply arms to Kyiv, arguing that this would merely prolong the war.