Bulgarian president refuses to attend NATO summit because of Ukraine
28 June 2024 10:15
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has refused to lead the Bulgarian delegation to the NATO summit in Washington because of “the position he has to defend regarding assistance to Ukraine”. This was reported by the Bulgarian Radio Liberty, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Radev’s office said that the head of state does not agree with certain provisions of the framework positions adopted by the Council of Ministers regarding Bulgaria’s commitments in connection with the war in Ukraine.
Neither the Bulgarian president nor the government has said what exactly is contained in the framework positions.
It is known that the Bulgarian president has long defended positions on the war in Ukraine that coincide with the Kremlin’s position – that providing military assistance to Kyiv only prolongs the conflict, and that those who advocate for assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces are “war lovers”.
Recently, Radev criticised NATO for allowing Ukraine to launch strikes with Western weapons on Russian territory, saying that this could lead to “escalation” and “nuclear Armageddon”.
In addition to greater predictability, the pledge could also put pressure on some laggards to provide more funds to help Ukraine.
NATO allies are still debating the wording of a July leaders’ statement that will describe Ukraine’s progress towards membership. These discussions were difficult at last year’s summit in Vilnius, when Ukraine sought a formal invitation. Leaders then eventually decided that Ukraine would join “as soon as the Allies agree and the conditions are met”.
While an invitation is unlikely again this year, the US and Germany are opposed to describing Ukraine’s path to NATO membership as “irreversible” and instead want to present the entire package as a “bridge to membership,” the sources said.
In April, Stoltenberg proposed to create a $100bn fund of allied contributions over five years for Ukraine as part of a package to be signed by the leaders of NATO member states at the summit in Washington. The idea behind this step is to make assistance to Ukraine less dependent on the outcome of the US elections.
The support plan for Ukraine also envisages that NATO will take over some of the work of coordinating the supply of weapons to Kyiv from the US-led Contact Group on Ukraine’s Defence (Ramstein format).
Stoltenberg discussed this idea with Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit to Kyiv in late April. At the same time, Hungary actively opposed it.
Later, Stoltenberg abandoned the initial idea of $100 billion over five years, proposing an annual commitment of €40 billion, in line with the average annual contributions since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
