Bulgaria is facing a power struggle between pro-Western and pro-Russian politicians after its President, Rumen Radev, blamed Kyiv and Western governments for the war engulfing Ukraine.
Ukraine “insists on fighting this war”, while the European Union and NATO members supplying the capital Kyiv with weaponry have prolonged it, Radev told journalists on July 14 at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The cost of the battle was being “paid [for] by the whole of Europe”, added Radev.
Ending the struggle “can happen in one day if Russia withdraws its forces from the territory of Ukraine”, retorted Radev’s rival and Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov.
Radev, a former member of the Bulgarian Communist Party, has criticised EU sanctions against Russia since 2017. Denkov’s We Continue the Change party has taken a pro-EU and pro-NATO stance.
Bulgaria has sent more than 100 armoured vehicles to Ukraine after Denkov came to power in June with a coalition majority.
In a November 2022 poll, one fifth of Bulgarians supported Russia and Ukraine, respectively. Almost half said they supported neither.
Backing for Russia is strong in Bulgaria, mainly due to cultural similarities and Moscow’s role in what many see as its freeing the country from longstanding Turkish Ottoman Empire rule.
The divisions may be dangerous for Bulgaria, commentators say, given its apparent political instability after five general elections in the past two years.
The new pro-EU government enjoys very low public trust, while Radev, who has remained a relatively stable figure and arbitrator throughout the political instability, now seems to be the most popular politician in the country. Just 16.7 per cent of Bulgarians polled on July 17 said they had trust in Denkov’s government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Bulgaria on June 6, meanwhile, appeared to inflame tensions.
Radev told Zelenskyy that rather than “hearing the word ‘victory’ … leading efforts should be for the word ‘peace’”. Zelenskyy responded by asking how Radev would employ diplomacy if Russia invaded Bulgaria and he took issue with Radev describing Russia’s invasion of his own country as a “conflict”, saying “this is definitely a war”.
