On February 20—just one day before Russian President Vladimir Putin began the war in Ukraine—the Russian news agency TASS reported that the Ukrainian army used grenade launchers manufactured in Bulgaria in shelling against the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Immediately after this, Kornelia Ninova denied that there had been any export of ammunition from Bulgaria to Ukraine, although such deals, even if they had taken place, are completely legal and do not violate international agreements.
In a publication on February 21 in “Za istinata” (“For the Truth,”) we discussed the mechanism that experts believe is being used for exporting weapons and ammunition to areas with actual or potential risks of military actions.
The transactions are legal, but the state has no obligation to monitor whether the sold products are sent to the country specified in the usage certificate. Whether ammunition and other types of weapons produced in Bulgaria are currently heading to Ukraine is something the official Bulgarian authorities cannot confirm, as they likely do not even know. However, it is interesting to investigate
whether the warehouses of our military factories have been emptied.
And what sales of ammunition and other weaponry have occurred since the start of the war in Ukraine? For instance, workers at “Arsenal” in Kazanlak, who were placed on forced leave by the owner due to rising electricity and gas prices, returned to their jobs on March 7. Although the prices of electricity and gas, which were the reasons for halting production at the Kazanlak arms factory, have not decreased. This means that there are currently orders that need to be fulfilled.
Thus, it turns out that
ammunition and weapons produced in Bulgaria are indeed reaching Ukraine,
but not with the sanction of the National Assembly. The cabinet justifies this with public opinion in our country, but the truth is that any other stance would test the governing coalition, which is already not particularly stable, and even less so homogeneous in terms of ideology and values.
Democratic Bulgaria has submitted a draft resolution to parliament to provide military-technical assistance to Ukraine, which will be reviewed this week. According to Atanas Atanasov, all members of the ruling majority, except for the BSP, are ready to support it; such an inclination is also demonstrated by the groups from GERB and DPS, which will gladly vote “for” with the hope of splitting the four-party coalition. In an interview with “Dnevnik,” General Atanasov states that “we should even symbolically make a decision to be part of the Western world that supports democracy.” However, what the MP from DB means by a “symbolic decision” is unclear.
If we look back at the history of wars in the 19th and 20th centuries, we see that
during World War I, Bulgaria achieved a complete victory over Russian troops in Dobruja. Thus, not only did we reclaim the entire Dobruja, but according to historian Yanko Gochev, the imposed Russian influence, built on lies and deception, suffered a significant blow.
In World War II, our country joined the Tripartite Pact, yet despite pressure from Germany, the Bulgarian government did not send our troops to the Eastern Front. This effectively meant that we did not participate in military actions against the Soviet army. However, on August 26, 1944, the government of Ivan Bagrianov declared neutrality regarding the war between Germany and the USSR. Following this, the government of Konstantin Muraviev, formed on September 2, severed diplomatic relations with Germany and sought an armistice with the United States and the United Kingdom. Yet, on September 5, the Soviet Union declared war on the Kingdom of Bulgaria.
On September 8, 1944, Soviet troops entered our country, and the following day, the September 9 coup took place.
After the end of the war, in which Bulgarian troops participated under the command of Marshal Tolbukhin, a referendum was held in our occupied country on September 8, 1946, leading to the declaration of Bulgaria as a “People’s Republic.” A year later, another referendum, again under conditions of occupation, ratified the so-called Dimitrov Constitution, which ended the multi-party system and established a totalitarian regime that lasted for over four decades, during which Bulgaria maintained formal sovereignty and, by divine will, did not become the 16th republic of the USSR.
Many might wonder why it is necessary to reflect on these years of our history and how they relate to the war in Ukraine and Bulgaria’s position. The answer is that
there are still elements within our country that refer to the Soviet army as “liberating,”
rather than occupying, and remain silent about its atrocities against Bulgarians. Furthermore, Putin’s policy today does not substantially differ from Stalin’s policy during those years.
The Russian president legitimizes the annexation of Crimea to the world through the results of a referendum conducted during an occupation, just as it was done here. And just as it was in Bulgaria 80 years ago, today Russian troops in Ukraine are committing war crimes, despite claims that they enter its territory as liberators.
We recall these facts because if we do not send military assistance to Ukraine, it will not turn us from enemies into friends of Putin, but it will undoubtedly demonstrate to the free world that Bulgaria is not a nation on which one can rely in difficult and dramatic moments for democracy.
