SOFIA -- Bulgaria’s new defense minister, Todor Tagarev, has signaled a likely break from the previous caretaker government’s reluctance to provide lethal aid to Ukraine by pledging an imminent announcement on a fresh package of military assistance, a move that could increase tensions with Bulgaria’s president.
Bulgarian officials have bickered publicly over the question of lethal aid for Kyiv fueled in part by two years of inconclusive elections and political stalemate that denied either side an upper hand and boosted the influence of pro-Kremlin President Rumen Radev.
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service on June 20, Tagarev said officials are now “striving to take a decision as soon as possible to provide a new aid package” pursuant to parliament’s endorsement late last year of military aid toward Ukraine’s war effort.
Lawmakers in December urged caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev and his government to be responsive to both Ukrainian requests and Bulgaria’s own security needs.
“We are working to implement this point of the decision of the National Assembly and very soon we will announce the sending of the next package of military aid to Ukraine,” Tagarev told RFE/RL. “And we will continue to analyze the needs of Ukraine and our capabilities to see if we can help in the future as well.”
Bulgarian sources this week told RFE/RL that providing ammunition and other weapons directly to Ukraine could be green-lighted as soon as this week.
A NATO and EU member, Bulgaria has joined Western sanctions on Russia for its 15-month-old invasion of Ukraine but dragged its feet on weapons transfers and classified details of its lone publicized weapons shipment to Kyiv, after the December 9 vote. It was said to contain only light weapons and ammunition.
The Bulgarian Army is still mainly equipped with military equipment from the time of the U.S.S.R.
Bulgaria is home to a thriving arms industry and a large stockpile of Soviet-era weapons familiar to many Ukrainian troops.
The United States has offered to reimburse Sofia or replace some of Bulgaria’s aging military hardware with more modern systems in exchange for contributions from its stockpiles to Kyiv.
One of Tagarev’s first moves as minister this month was to request an analysis of the types and quantities of ammunition and equipment that Bulgaria could quickly provide to Ukraine.
The Bulgarian public has appeared divided on issues around Russia and the war, and Radev has been the face of institutional and public resistance to supplying lethal military aid to Kyiv.
In March, Radev refused to join a dozen EU allies’ commitment to supply 1 million artillery shells over the course of a year. He and key members of the caretaker government at the time warned that transferring Soviet-era tanks and jets or S-300 air-defense systems would leave Bulgaria overly vulnerable.
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Tagarev called the argument that Bulgarians’ taxes would be poured into weapons that are simply handed over to Ukraine “an element of pro-Kremlin propaganda on our territory.”
“It was never about that type of help,” the defense minister said. “We are talking about weapons and ammunition that are already in stock, many of which have already expired or are at the end of their life that need to be replaced anyway.”
He said Ukrainians “are ready to take” those items and even some systems that are not fully functional.
“For ammunition, which if we don't provide now, in a few years we have to dispose of it -- that is, to pay again to destroy them and refresh our stock. This is the type of help we are talking about,” Tagarev said. “It in no way affects the interests of the Bulgarian taxpayer.”
Bulgarian researchers and a former member of parliament’s Defense Committee say that in addition to multiple types of long-range ammunition that Ukraine needs, Sofia could provide artillery and air-defense systems -- possibly in conjunction with NATO pledges to reinforce Bulgaria’s security and help modernize its 36,000-troop army.
Analysts and others have challenged the argument that shipping ammunition and other military hardware to Ukraine is likely to endanger Bulgarians.
“Bulgaria can provide 152- and 122-millimeter projectiles, armored vehicles, howitzers,” Ivo Mirchev, a lawmaker from the ruling PP-DB coalition who serves on the parliamentary Defense Committee, told RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service.
Bulgaria’s stockpiles of such long-range ammunition are sufficient, he and other sources said.
It could also donate other artillery, volley-fire, and air-defense systems, they said.
Tagarev is part of a pro-EU government that was approved on June 6 with support from parliament's two biggest political groupings: the center-right GERB and Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB).
“The current position [of Bulgaria] is that we understand very well the situation in which Ukraine is. We are absolutely aware of who the aggressor is in the war, which is currently going on in full force, and who the victim of aggression is,” Tagarev said.
“And understanding all this -- the need to preserve the international legal order, the moral considerations that we have, and the geostrategic considerations, that by protecting itself, Ukraine is effectively protecting us -- we understand and share this need to help Ukraine with all we can…as long as Ukraine needs this help.”