Billions of dollars worth of Bulgarian weapons have entered Ukraine through other countries over the past two years without any direct agreement between Ukraine and Bulgaria.
This is stated in the Euractiv investigation.
Before the war, from the beginning of 2021 until February 24, 2022, Ukraine did not enter into direct agreements with Bulgarian arms companies, which are the main exporters of weapons and ammunition produced according to Soviet standards for the Ukrainian army.
However, only last year, Bulgaria indirectly exported weapons worth at least 1 billion dollars to Ukraine, the publication reports citing sources.
Despite the fact that the then Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister of Bulgaria Cornelia Ninova, the leader of the pro-Russian socialists in Bulgaria, repeated that she would not allow the export of Bulgarian weapons for the Ukrainian army, the Bulgarian arms industry had record sales abroad, mainly to Poland and Romania , from where the weapons then went to Ukraine.
"Bulgarian arms companies do not sell weapons and ammunition directly to Ukrainian companies, because there is a practice when this happens through foreign programs," said Velizar Shalamanov, former Acting Minister of Defense, former head of the Supervisory Board of the NATO Communications and Information Agency , and now the director of the Atlantic Club.
"There is a well-funded program in Great Britain, the United States and Poland. Through this program, the weapons necessary for Ukraine are bought, that is, the money is not Ukrainian, but British, American, Polish or European. Therefore, it is bought through other companies. In addition, logistics are important , And it, as we all know, is mostly organized through Poland and is the responsibility of those companies that buy on the Bulgarian market," explained Shalamanov.
It will be recalled that in January, the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kyrylo Petkov said that the supply of Bulgarian weapons to Ukraine went through intermediary countries, which made it possible to overcome the resistance of pro-Russian forces in the coalition and the parliament.
