Investigation: Bulgaria "indirectly" sends weapons to Ukraine

Bulgarian arms worth billions of dollars entered Ukraine through other countries in the past two years without Ukraine and Bulgaria even having to agree to a single direct deal, even before the war, an investigation carried out by EURACTIV Bulgaria has found.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bulgaria’s then deputy prime minister and economy minister Kornelia Ninova reiterated that she would not allow the export of Bulgarian weapons to Ukraine after making her first promise in a televised interview just four days after the invasion began.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion, the sending of weapons to the war-torn country has been a key bone of contention between Russophile and pro-Western parties in Bulgaria.

While the direct trade of weapons has not occurred, their indirect sale, first highlighted by EURACTIV in October 2022, has now been found to be taking place even before the conflict started.

“For the period 24 February 2022-19 January 2023, no applications for foreign trade transactions with Ukrainian companies and state institutions were received for consideration by the Commission for Export Control, and accordingly, no export permits were issued for this period,” a response provided to EURACTIV by the Economy Ministry says following a request under the Access to Public Information Act.

Even before the war, from the start of 2021 until 24 February 2022, Ukraine made no direct deals with Bulgarian arms companies, which are major exporters of weapons and ammunition produced according to the Soviet standard for the Ukrainian army.

However, last year alone, Bulgaria exported indirectly at least $1 billion in arms to Ukraine, EURACTIV sources comment.

As Ninova, the leader of the pro-Russian socialists in Bulgaria repeated, she would not allow the export of Bulgarian weapons to the Ukrainian army, the Bulgarian arms industry had record sales abroad, mainly to Poland and Romania, from where weapons are then sent into Ukraine.

Large state-owned arms plants such as those in Sopot, Karlovo, and Kazanlak, where the plants are located, and the people working there, reported a 100 per cent uptick in sales.