The Bulgarian president vetoed the supply of decommissioned armored vehicles to Ukraine
Bulgarian President Radaev vetoed the transfer of one hundred decommissioned armored vehicles to Ukraine, writes Newsweek. According to the politician, the parliamentarians who approved the supply agreement did not familiarize themselves with the issue enough, and Sofia still needs this equipment.
On Monday, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev vetoed the transfer of one hundred decommissioned armored vehicles from Sofia to Kiev. The Bulgarian parliament had approved the agreement just a few weeks earlier.
According to the Bulgarian NOVA TV company, Radev sent the agreement back to parliament for a new discussion, saying that the deputies who approved it had not sufficiently familiarized themselves with the issue. The Bulgarian National Assembly ratified the agreement between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on November 22, and representatives of Sofia said that the Bulgarian military no longer needed armored vehicles.
NATO members, including Bulgaria, have strongly supported Ukraine in the conflict with Russia. But as tensions between Moscow and the military alliance have grown, some European countries have begun to take steps to secure their own borders in case the fighting spills over into Ukraine.
In his appeal published by NOVA on Monday, Radev suggested that representatives of the Bulgarian National Assembly “did not properly verify” whether the vehicles in question were no longer needed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“It is clear from the discussions of the bill in the National Assembly that a significant part of the deputies are unfamiliar with the specific list of equipment provided at the time of voting, and thus have no way to assess whether they are really no longer needed,” Radev wrote.
The Bulgarian president added that by approving the transfer of equipment without plans to replace it, the deputies did not take into account the “wartime tasks” facing the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“Moreover, even at the moment, the Main Directorate of the Border Police does not have enough of the necessary all—terrain vehicles," Radev continued. — Currently, this deficit is being filled by vehicles of the Bulgarian army. The all—terrain armored vehicles provided to Ukraine under this agreement can be used to protect the Bulgarian border - and this is a matter of fundamental importance, both for internal security and for the implementation of Sofia's foreign policy priorities for full accession to the Schengen area.”
On Monday, Newsweek magazine emailed the Radev administration and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comment, but received no response.
Other NATO members, including the United States, have promised to send tanks to the battlefield in Ukraine. According to a September BBC report, Washington signed an agreement to transfer 31 Abrams tanks to Kiev. Ukraine is also preparing to receive 14 Challenger 2 tanks from the UK, 14 Leopard 2 tanks from Germany and six more Leopards 2 tanks from Spain.
The author of the article: Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter from Boston, Massachusetts. Her specialty is national news and politics. Graduated from the University of Dayton