Bulgaria’s Parliament approves report naming Russia as threat to security
Bulgaria’s National Assembly approved on October 5 the national security report for 2016, with debate on the report becoming heated because of its naming of Russia as a security threat.
According to the report, “the actions of Russia as a source of regional instability also threatens our basic goal of a united, free and peaceful Europe”.
The report was approved by 104 votes in favour and 96 against, with no abstentions.
The reference to Russia riled the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party in particular. The BSP, lineal successor to the Bulgarian Communist Party that ruled the country as a one-party state for decades, favours warmer relations with the Kremlin.
A BSP MP, Ivan Ivanov, described the report’s statement about Russia as “mildly put, ridiculous”.
BSP leader Kornelia Ninova added that she had voted against the report because she did not agree with the claims it made about the Borissov government’s achievements regarding national security.
