Sergey Stanishev, a former Bulgarian prime minister, former president of the Party of European Socialists and former BSP leader, said the government had reacted adequately, calmly and responsibly to drone attacks in the Black Sea off Bulgaria. Speaking on Bulgaria On Air, he said Prime Minister Radev’s line was the right one and in the interest of Bulgaria and Europe, and that Bulgaria should try to help find a political solution.
Earlier the same day the European Parliament criticised the Bulgarian government for an insufficient diplomatic reaction toward Russia after the Black Sea attacks and adopted a resolution that firmly condemns the deadly strikes. The document insists that Bulgaria officially confirm its participation in NATO’s initiative to counter drones by 30 October at the latest.
Stanishev said he had spent 10 years in the European Parliament and knew how resolutions were made: everyone inserts something and the result is mixed. BSP members did not support this resolution. Alongside points useful for Bulgaria, he said, the tone contained a categorical quality he found unacceptable.
He said the United States, NATO’s leading ally, was trying to find a path to a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, while the EU was entirely absent from efforts to reach a political solution. Russia had failed in a blitzkrieg and Ukraine’s resistance was heroic, he said, but in a war of attrition Russia objectively had far greater resources. The war was at a crossroads between diplomacy and escalation, and the greatest losers were the people of Ukraine. If the path chosen was escalation, he warned, Bulgaria would be the one to suffer.
Stanishev allowed that the last two sunken ships were most likely hit by Russian drones. He said that in the summer Zelensky announced a campaign to force Russia toward peace and that ships then began to be struck. He asked whether, as a responsible statesman, Zelensky had considered what would follow, why he had provoked that response, and whether anyone wanted the situation to escalate, adding that the two things were interconnected.
He argued that the government should step up protection of Bulgarian airspace against drone strikes, that joining the NATO initiative was the right step, and that a comprehensive security system for Europe should be sought. He said Russia had two red lines from which it would not retreat: the whole territory of Donbas passing to Russia, and Ukraine remaining outside NATO.
Stanishev asked where Europe would find a promised new portion of millions in aid for Ukraine when all countries had large debts and economic problems. He said Ukraine had to be spoken to about the realities. Without Western, and especially European, solidarity, the war would already have ended; if it continued in the same way, it would again end badly. A dignified way out for Ukraine was needed. The country was in a demographic crisis, more than 10 million people had fled abroad, and two-thirds to three-quarters would not return. Russian attacks were destroying basic infrastructure, and the EU would do better to provide money for reconstruction.