Germany’s ambassador to Bulgaria on the need to supply weapons to Ukraine
If you demand negotiations but do not supply weapons to Ukraine, then please explain to me how you want to bring Putin to the negotiating table, Germany’s ambassador to Bulgaria Irene Plank said in a post on the embassy’s official Facebook page on June 19.
The embassy’s post said: “Today we answer a question that interests many:
Why is Germany supplying weapons to Ukraine instead of relying on a negotiation solution?”
Putin doesn’t want to negotiate, Plank said.
“There have been repeatedly negotiating offers – most recently now in the framework of the G7 summit – from Ukraine, which are being rejected.
“If you stop supporting Ukraine now in its defence against this Russian aggression, you are weakening Ukraine’s position. Then Putin will not negotiate,” she said.
On June 20, several Bulgarian media reports interpreted the post as a response to Prime Minister Roumen Radev and his government, and the announcement earlier in the month that Bulgaria would no longer provide military weaponry to Ukraine.
Radev, who took office on May 8, made his first official visit abroad as Prime Minister to Germany, meeting Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
In response to a journalist’s question about encouraging peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, Radev said that at this stage the most important thing is for the negotiations to begin.
“It is high time for diplomacy, because the war of attrition actually exhausts all participating and supporting countries, economically and socially,” Radev said, expressing hope that these negotiations will begin as soon as possible.
In recent days, Radev also has caused new tension within the European Union after announcing that Bulgaria will insist that Russian Patriarch Kirill and longtime Lukoil head Vagit Alekperov be removed from the proposed news EU sanctions lists.
Radev said that otherwise Sofia could veto the next package of European sanctions against Russia.
