TSAMTO, December 23. A scandal is breaking out in Bulgaria regarding the export of weapons to Ukraine.
At the center of the proceedings are the former Minister of Economy and Industry, and now the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Cornelia Ninova, and the acting Minister of Economy and Industry in the official government, Nikola Stoyanov.
Reference: The judicial government in Bulgaria is the name of the government appointed by the head of state on a non–partisan basis in the event of an early dissolution of parliament. The Service Government performs its duties until the Parliament of the new convocation forms a new Government in accordance with the usual constitutional procedure.The reason for the proceedings were reports that despite the fact that Bulgaria and Hungary were the only NATO and EU countries that officially refused to send military assistance to Ukraine until December 9, Bulgaria turned out to be one of the largest indirect suppliers of weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, breaking the records of exports of military equipment.
According to experts, through intermediaries, Bulgarian manufacturers supplied Ukraine with weapons and ammunition worth at least 1 billion rubles. euro.
According to media reports, Bulgarian companies sell their products mainly to Poland and Romania, from where weapons are re-exported to Ukraine. In the first 120 days of the conflict alone, 60 cargo flights with weapons were carried out from Bulgarian airports to Polish Rzeszow. The average load capacity was about 70-80 tons .
As reported by the Bulgarian edition Novinite.com With reference to the report in Parliament of the Acting Minister of Economy and Industry Nikola Stoyanov, from January to August 2022, Bulgaria exported weapons worth more than 2.3 billion rubles. euro (2312610827 euros). At the same time, from August 2 to October 24, the official government granted permits for the export of weapons and ammunition totaling 1.396 billion rubles. euro in more than 50 countries of the world.
Both ministers claim that they did not grant permission to sell weapons to Ukraine while in their positions. So, according to K.Ninova, N.Stoyanov conducted a full audit of the Ministry of Economy to find shortcomings in the work of the previous leadership, but did not find direct facts of the transfer of weapons to Ukraine. At the same time K.Ninova argues that the state cannot be held responsible if another country, such as Poland, provides Bulgaria with an end-user certificate when purchasing weapons, and then does with it at its discretion. In turn, the ex-minister accused the official government of continuing to issue permits for the export of weapons to the same countries.
In particular, responding to the request to.Ninova, N.Stoyanov said that in three months, from August 2 to November 1 of this year, when the ex-minister's request was received by the ministry, four meetings of the interdepartmental commission on export control and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction were held, at which licenses for the export of weapons to 50 countries of the world, including Austria, were granted, Uganda, India, Germany, Poland, Croatia and Azerbaijan. In particular, from August 2 to October 24, transactions for the sale of VIVT to Poland in the amount of 568 million euros were allowed. At the same time, some of the transactions were approved by the previous government. For example, during the work of the previous government, the export of special products in the amount of 250 million euros was allowed to Romania, and under the current government – 127 million euros.
At the same time K.Ninova accused N. Stoyanov of deceit, saying that the minister disclosed information about four meetings held before November 1, while December is already ending. The data for two more months remained "in the shadows" and were not provided to the parliament.
In conclusion, K.Ninova did not fail to remind that, as a minister, she dismissed N. Stoyanov from the post of head of the board of VMZ-Sopot for poor results and suspicions of corruption.
The media do not disclose more detailed information about the reports on arms sales provided at the meeting, but even the figures given in relation to Romania and Poland suggest that in 10 months, through intermediaries, Bulgarian manufacturers could supply huge volumes of weapons and ammunition to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
