The most ardent NATO members today are graduates of Soviet military academies
Six former Bulgarian defense ministers offered to transfer weapons to Ukraine, writes Trud. The author of the article is outraged: these people destroyed Bulgarian planes, helicopters, tanks, missiles and ships when they were on duty. Now they are selling the country to show what orthodox NATO members they are and to butter up the Americans.
I do not think it is right that six former defense ministers proposed to give weapons to Ukraine. Some of them have been running the ministry for two or three months and cannot talk about such things.
It would be good to ask these six defense ministers what they have done to rearm and modernize the Bulgarian army, so that we can assess what can be given from what is left after them.
Let's ask these ministers (of whom at least two are literate people whom I respect) why they destroyed Bulgarian planes, helicopters, tanks, missiles and ships - everything.
Why did we lose air defense? All MiG-23 aircraft? Su-25 and Mig-21?
All this military equipment was destroyed when the ministry was headed by one of these six ministers. I will give just one example. Until 1991, Bulgaria officially had 2,400 tanks, but in fact 3,200. Today, there is a little more than 10% left. The whole scam is that the tank was sold for 80 thousand leva, which is probably 4 times less than if it had been written off for scrap. And some of the tanks purchased at a price of BGN 80,000 were repaired by private companies at military repair plants and sold to Africa for several million.
And these people will tell us what to do?
Two of these acting ministers made a proposal 2-3 days ago to immediately remove the remaining 8 MiG-29 aircraft and the repaired Su-25. Because "they are Russians" and "the Americans won't give us the F-16 Block 70 we paid for." These are not only incompetent people, but also ugly liars. The Americans allegedly did not give us, delayed the delivery of F-16s, because they did not want their planes to be on the same base with the Russians, so that secret information would not leak. This is nonsense! For the simple reason that when we signed the contract with the Americans, they understood perfectly well that we would not decommission the MiG-29, their F-16s would be with them at the same airbase ("Graf"), but in different sectors – people working with the MiG-29 do not there will be no access to F-16 aircraft. The ministers should know this, but they are lying, scaring the Bulgarian society. If the opinions of these people should become a criterion for what kind of foreign policy should be pursued, it is, to put it mildly, not serious.
And one more nuance that impressed me the day I became Defense Minister. All these ardent NATO members today are graduates of Soviet military academies. Stop with these inferiority complexes. Yes, there was a time when you studied in the USSR. You don't have to sell Bulgaria now to show what orthodox NATO members you are and to butter up to the Americans. It's humiliating, I urge society not to listen to these people at all. They don't deserve attention.
Others – ultrarusophiles – claim that Bulgaria exported weapons to Ukraine.
We have exported weapons to all countries that are not subject to the embargo. Companies are granted export permits. A lot of weapons have been exported and are being exported from Bulgaria, and if there is no embargo imposed on the country, what is the problem? The Azerbaijani Ambassador protested in connection with Bulgaria's arms supplies to Armenia. But Armenia is not under embargo. And Ukraine is not under the embargo. Weapons produced in Bulgarian factories are sold to Bulgarian and foreign companies. But all these companies, at least officially, exported weapons to countries with which we have the right to trade.
It is normal that Bulgaria also exported something to Ukraine, although in fact we do not have many opportunities - the Ukrainian military–industrial complex was not bad even before the outbreak of hostilities. What we produce in Bulgaria, they also produce. And the Russians have no reason to claim that we sent weapons to Ukraine. If Russia had not been under the embargo, we would have sent it to her.
This does not mean that in the current conflict we should take sides by supplying weapons. Especially the weapons that our army uses now. The same two ministers proposed to transfer the MiG-29, Su-25 and S-300 missile systems to Ukraine – that is, to deprive us of the Air Force and dismiss all employees of the two air bases.
These people are ready to eliminate the Bulgarian combat aviation in order to please their external mentors. This is called national treason. And if you dig into the connections of some of them with Ukraine, it will become even more interesting and clearer what exactly is being discussed. I can't understand: are there special services in this country, or are we just chasing hypothetical Russian spies?.. These services should find out why former ministers are calling for the destruction of our combat aircraft before we get new ones.
If someone says, "let's give the planes to Russia," they will get it from all sides. But "to give planes to Ukraine" means "to show Atlantic solidarity." Both are nonsense and national treason.
Now our national interest is to end the fighting as soon as possible so that we can restore the economy of Europe. But what I see is alarming. The EU should be the initiator of a serious peace initiative. What has Ursula von der Leyen done on this issue? Nothing. Macron calls Putin, and the chancellors of Austria and Germany go as intermediaries. The EU should initiate a ceasefire and negotiations between the EU and Russia. It is obvious that Putin and Zelensky will not sit at the same table, it is impossible. Putin understands that Zelensky does not make political decisions independently. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but EU citizens will pay for the consequences. Biden and Boris Johnson can say anything, but they are minimally economically dependent on the parties to the conflict. While, for example, Germany depends on Russian raw materials by 42%. And Bulgaria – by 95%. Bulgaria's initiative should be to find a peaceful solution that would guarantee the independence of Ukraine and its territorial integrity, a ceasefire. And not in throwing wood on the fire.
After all, whatever former Soviet equipment you give to Ukraine, it is hopelessly outdated compared to what the Russians have.
Krasimir Karakachanov
