Bulgarian Opposition Decries Gov't 'National Betrayal' Over Russian Special Op in Ukraine

Earlier in this week, Bulgaria, along with other European states, announced its decision to close its airspace to Russian airlines amid the situation in Ukraine, explaining it had decided to do so due to “the escalation of the military conflict and as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine”.

The Bulgarian opposition party “Revival” attacked the government's response to the events in Ukraine, and also condemned the “West’s information propaganda", according to a post from party’s official account in Facebook.

According to the author of the statement, member of the party and the Bulgarian National Assembly Elena Guncheva, the Western media “failed to inform” about US plans to concentrate military power near Russia's borders, the “atrocities against the Russian population in Donbass” and the economic interests of the Biden family in Ukraine.

Guncheva claimed that the decision of the Bulgarian government to condemn Moscow’s special operation in Ukraine is “a national betrayal” and pointed out that her party does not support European sanctions against Russia, as they might badly affect energy prices, incomes from tourism and other Bulgarian interests.

She also recalled unilateral NATO operations abroad.

“Was it a war, when the United States had been bombing Yugoslavia and killing women and children? Was it a war, when they intervened in the Arab Spring and provoked it? Or were they just conducting peacekeeping killings?” she said.

On 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, responding to an appeal from leaders of the Donbass republics for help against Kiev's aggression. He stressed that the Russian military does not seek to occupy Ukrainian territory, but would carry out demilitarisation and denazification.

According to the Russian Defence Ministry, only military infrastructure will be targeted by the Russian military and not cities or the civilian population.