2024-07-04 12:27:04
The fake news that Bulgaria may send soldiers to the front in Ukraine is turning people away from serving in the army and studying at military universities.
“Our servicemen are preparing for war, which is true – we are conducting combat training for our armed forces so that they can defend the territorial integrity of the country. I am more concerned about the effect of this fake news on our armed forces than on the public, which yes, it strongly affects the desire of citizens towards our armed forces, to recruit the necessary amount of soldiers, it affects the desire to enter the higher military schools”, said acting Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov during a hearing in the parliament specifically about the possibilities of sending Bulgarians to the front. This is what he answered a question of Hristo Gadjev from GERB, who asked him if these statements reflect the Bulgarian military personnel.
His predecessor in the post, Todor Tagarev, from “Promyanata” expressed such a thesis. He told the deputies that since the war in Ukraine began and the speculations about sending Bulgarians to the front started, the number of applicants to the higher military schools has decreased significantly.
“Sending armed or unarmed Bulgarian military personnel to Ukraine for any reason has never been discussed, is not being discussed and will not be discussed. Such a question has never been raised either before the political or military leadership of the Ministry of Defense. This is a matter solely of your authority,” Zapryanov said. Earlier, acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, who was at a hearing regarding Bulgaria’s position at the NATO Summit in Washington the following week, explained the same to them.
Zapryanov added that the meeting will not discuss sending troops to the front.