Bulgaria is reluctant to send anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine

Sofia, 18 Mar Bulgaria continues to refuse the shipment of anti-air defense missiles, of the S-300 type, of Soviet production, or any other type of armament for Ukraine, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said on Friday. “At this time, Bulgaria will not give anyone air defense systems or other missiles,” said the head of government of Bulgaria, a member of NATO since 2004. “We continue to strongly support Ukraine and provide humanitarian aid, as well as receiving as many refugees as possible,” added Petkov, who will meet tomorrow in Sofia with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Some Western media say that the US has asked Slovakia and Bulgaria, both members of NATO, to hand over their S-300 air defense systems that they have been using since the previous Soviet era. “No one on the American side has spoken to me to ask for weapons. The only thing that is being talked about is coordinated efforts to strengthen the eastern flank of NATO,” Petkov said. He added that any decision on the shipment of arms from Ukraine would have to be adopted with “broad consensus in Parliament”. In this way, Petkov seemed to recognize the internal divisions that exist in his four-party coalition over the sending of weapons to Ukraine. One of these partners, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, heir to the former communist party and with historical sympathies towards Moscow, is categorically against it. For now, among NATO partners only Hungary and Bulgaria have refused to send weapons or ammunition to Ukraine, the victim of a major Russian invasion that began on 24 February. CHIEF vp-jk/ah