Analyzing Bulgarian President Radev’s statements on the Russo-Ukrainian war

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 10 Feb 2025 by Alex Teddy
• President Rumen Radev wants the EU to be actively involved in negotiations. • Radev heavily criticizes the prosecution of the war, sanctions and lack of political achievements. • Radev open to restoring Russian gas flows to Europe after a peace deal. CONTEXT On February 5, we attended the Economist’s Bulgaria Business Summit. The headline speaker at the event was Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who gave a full speech, much of which included his opinions on the Russo-Ukrainian war. Radev questioned the effectiveness of sanctions, Europe’s commitment to continue supporting Ukraine and President Trump’s request for NATO members to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP. BACKGROUND Rumen Radev, a former Bulgarian Air Force officer, has walked a fine line in his role as president of Bulgaria between Russia and the West. Initially, he ran on a platform of relaxing sanctions on Russia imposed after the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, supported by the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party, but he has moderated this stance since the outbreak of war. Radev and other Russia-friendly or Russia-neutral elected leaders like himself such as Fico, Orban and potentially Georgescu in the near future are indicative of resilient Russian influence and soft power in Central and Eastern Europe. This persists, even though we are now three years into the Russo-Ukrainian war, a catalyst for measures taken by the West to attempt to destroy this connection. RADEV’S STATEMENTS ON RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR: MILITARY ANALYSIS Radev’s somewhat inflammatory speech was a bit jarring, given that it came immediately after a speech made by the British ambassador to Bulgaria with much more positive sentime...

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