Bulgarian President Rumen Radev,58, infuriated the European Union [EU] and U.S. when he said the Crimea was part of Russia, something deeply disputed by Ukraine and the Western Alliance. Radev just won reelection with 66% of the vote, recognizing that Bulgaria has strong ties to Russia, despite being part of NATO and the Western Alliance. Before the break up on the Soviet Union Dec. 26, 1991, Bulgaria was part of the Kremlin’s satellite system, a type of alliance once known as the Warsaw Pact nations. So, in Bulgaria, Radev walks a fine line showing loyalty to the Western Alliance and at the same time recognizing Bulgaria’s affinity to Moscow. While debating his chief rival in the presidential election, Anastas Gerdzhikov, Radev called for pragmatic ties with Russia, something agreed to by the bulk of Bulgarian voters, something the EU and U.S. hasn’t achieved.
Gerkzhikov tried his best to paint Radev as a puppet to Russian President Vladimir Putin, trying to convince Bulgarian voters that Radev was pandering to the Kremlin. “The sanctions that were imposed because of Crimea and Ukraine are not yielding results,” Radev insisted in his debate with Berdzhikov. Radev said the Crimean Peninsural was “currently Russian,” adding, “what else can it be,” infuriating the U.S. and EU. But Radev recalls the petition circulated in Ukraine before the March 1, 2024 takeover that said the Russian-speaking Ukrainians preferred the Russian Federation over the Kiev government. No one in the Western Alliance admits that had the CIA not backed the Feb. 22, 2014 coup against Kremlin-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, Crimea would stay with Ukraine. Had former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko not led the coup, things would be different.
No one in the Western Alliance wants to admit that a CIA-backed coup toppled the duly elected President of Ukraine Feb. 22, 2014. Klitschko got what he wanted but didn’t expect Putin to annex the Crimean Peninsula, home to Russia’s warm water Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. “The United States, G7, European Union, and NATO have all been clear and united in our position that, despite Russia’s attempted annexation and ongoing occupation, Crimea is Ukraine,” the U.S. Embassy in Sophia said. Radev doesn’t have any problem with the official U.S. and EU position on Crimea. What he has a problem with are the warmongers looking to slap Moscow with more sanctions, something that only makes a bad situation worse. Unlike the U.S., EU or NATO, Radev has constituents that want better ties with the Kremlin, not looking for confrontation like Ukraine’s 43-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Radev doesn’t think that Crimea belongs to the Russia Federation, after it was given to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954, when Ukraine, like Bulgaria, was a Soviet satellite. “All of us, including Bulgaria, declared at the Crimea Platform Summit in August that Crimea in an integral part of Ukraine and that we do not and will not recognize Russia’s efforts to legitimize its illegal seizure and occupation of the peninsula,” said the U.S. Bulgarian embassy. Because Radev said the Crimea is “Russian,’ he refers to the referendum in which residents preferred to be rule by the Russian Federation over Kiev. Russian separatists in the Donbass region of Southeastern Ukraine also want no part of Kiev’s rule. Radev simply recognizes the fact that there’s support for Moscow inside Ukraine in Russian-speaking groups living in Crimea and Donbass. U.S. and EU press misrepresented Radev’s position of taking a more pragmatic approach to the Kremlin.
Radev sought to stem the media hubbub, clarifying his position on Crimea. “This is a position which Bulgaria has expressed clearly in all international organizations,” Radev’s press office said, clarifying that Crimea belongs to Ukraine, saying he defended Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Radev doesn’t think that U.S. and EU sanctions have done anything other than breed more resentment. “The sanctions that were imposed because of Crimea and Ukraine are not yielding results,” Radev said. Radev said Crimea was “currently Russia, adding, “what else can it be?” causing fury in the U.S., EU and NATO. “As President Radev said in the campaign debate, ‘currently Crimea is control by Russia and it is crystal clear that problem cannot be solved by force,” Radev said at the last debate, refusing to join the U.S., EU and NATO saber-rattling.
Radev recognizes that if there’s any chance of returning Crimea to Ukraine, it’s going to be through dialogue and talks between Kiev and Moscow. So far, Kiev, as led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, has only hostility for Putin and the Kremlin. Radev is a sober voice for compromise and de-escalating tensions between Moscow and Kiev. Zelensky has practically stood on his head to win Ukraine NATO membership. Putin has made clear the joining NATO would be a red line for Russia, most likely taking more defensive actions, including taking more Ukrainian territory. Zelensky wants NATO to fight Ukraine’s battles with Moscow, something NATO Secretary–General Jens Stoltenberg wants to avoid. Bulgaria under Radev wants to live in peace with Russia, not be sucked into today’s anti-Russian rhetoric in the U.S. and EU. U.S., EU and NATO would be well-advised to listen to Radev.
