Bulgarian President Plevneliev: We are witnessing a democratic revolution in Ukraine
Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev has called for the people of Ukraine, saying “we are witnessing a democratic revolution” in that country, following the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as president and rapid moves to a new government.
Plevneliev made the remarks in messages on February 24 on the offical Twitter account of the Presidency.
He has become the first Bulgarian top state official to comment on the dramatic events in Ukraine, after comments before the weekend by the government and the foreign ministry were overtaken by events.
Plevneliev said that for months, Ukrainians had fought against a regime that was not ashamed of causing bloodshed and attacking its own people. He said that he hoped never again to see such scenes of carnage in Ukraine.
He said that it was very important for a government of national reconciliation to be formed in Ukraine, with wide representation and for all politicians to declare that they will work to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine and for quick and fair elections.
” Let the people of Ukraine decide their future,” Plevneliev said.
By the early evening of February 24, there had been no new statements on Ukraine from Bulgaria’s foreign ministry or cabinet.
After European Union foreign ministers voted in favour of targeted sanctions against members of the Ukrainian regime following the bloodshed in Kyiv that cost 75 lives, Kristian Vigenin – the former MEP who currently is foreign minister in the Bulgarian Socialist Party government – said that the main responsibility for the situation in Ukraine lay with the government, but that sanctions also should be imposed on radical groups in Kyiv that were also responsible for the extensive violence.
On February 21, a government statement welcomed the agreement the previous day between Yanukovych and leaders of the Ukrainian opposition as a necessary compromise that opened the way to political dialogue in Ukraine.
The government statement said that Bulgaria always had supported the European prospects of Ukraine and the deepening of its relations with the EU.
