“We have an initiative to provide armored vehicles to Ukraine from the warehouses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, without affecting the reserves of the army. We are proposing this as a draft decision of the parliament. The approximate number will be around 100, mostly armored personnel carriers.”
This is what Ivaylo Mirchev, MP from “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” told bTV.
According to him, the initiative is supported by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, the Ministers of the Interior and Defense, the parliamentary groups of GERB and DPS, including the leader of GERB, Boyko Borissov, as well as the alleged future chairman of the defense committee in the parliament, Hristo Gadjev.
In return for the assistance, Bulgaria will expect compensation from the US.
The armored vehicles were stationed in internal troops at the time of the shameful “Revival Process” in Bulgaria, but were never used. “They are no longer necessary, some of them are technically faulty, they have not left the warehouses for 40 years”, explained Mirchev.
“Ukrainians have proven that they can do anything with what they get,” he added.
In his words, this idea will in no way impair the combat capability of the Bulgarian army, because these are “armored personnel carriers that we will not use in any form”.
“Our goal will be, after we send these 100 or so armored vehicles, to get American help to strengthen our defense capabilities. We hope this proposal is still valid, it was valid as of December 2022. Talks are forthcoming. Radev’s caretaker government then missed the chance to make such a deal, we’re talking about 200 million dollars, with which President Radev, who is otherwise very concerned about the army, could have very seriously strengthened our defense capabilities,” the MP also stated.
At the beginning of the year, the US offered Bulgaria 0 million to replace its aging S-300 air defense systems with NASAMS. These funds were allocated by the US Congress (nearly 0 million in January alone) to the partner countries of the Eastern Flank, from which other countries, such as the Czech Republic for example, have already benefited. It was this refusal by President Rumen Radev that Mirchev was referring to.
Such a draft decision has not yet been published on the parliament’s website, it is expected to be submitted to the registry today. It will be in response to “Zelensky’s list”. During his visit to Bulgaria, the Ukrainian president gave the Bulgarian authorities a list of the ammunition and equipment needed by his country, with which the Balkan country can help. According to Defense Minister Todor Tagarev, it contained everything except aircraft.
“We can only provide military equipment that will not endanger our safety”, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov later commented.
© 2023, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.