Drones hit two ships in Bulgarian waters - one sank near Byala. The Bulgarian ferry DIOSCURIA rescued sailors. The crew of the other ship - ALFA WATAN - sank, with fatalities. After the attacks, Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced that the state had taken all necessary precautions and recommended that the National Security Advisory Council not be convened in the pre-election situation.
Both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense informed that at this stage they do not have additional data and cannot confirm whether the drones are Russian or Ukrainian. Despite the Prime Minister's recommendation, President Iliana Yotova is convening a meeting of the National Security Advisory Council tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. And now the question remains - how did the crisis with the drone attacks come about?
We understood the government's position that it cannot determine what these drones are. However, they told us that the strikes were carried out with air and sea drones. Indeed, in order to collect information that can withstand a court hearing, additional remains from the ships are probably needed, as well as expert analyses. This was commented by the former Minister of Defense, Prof. Todor Tagarev, in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" on Radio FOCUS with host Tsonya Sabcheva.
"I think that in this case there is completely enough information. The government, of course, has more data than what it shares with us, in order to clearly determine the source of the strikes. I would say that the main element of this information is that these ships, firstly, it is clear that one of them - the one that survived - was transporting Ukrainian grain. Secondly, it passes close to our territorial waters, which is a transport corridor used in recent years exclusively by Ukraine and by ships traveling to and from Ukraine," the guest also commented.
"These corridors were under threat back in 2023, when Russia tried to block grain exports. I will also recall that Russia blocked 80% of our exclusive economic zone for half a year, announcing live-fire exercises. Russia issued such a warning, valid for six months and extended every month," said Professor Tagarev.
"This corridor is used mainly in the interests of Ukraine, as well as by Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey for the transportation of goods, and not by Russian ships. These facts make me think with a great degree of confidence that the strike was carried out by Russia," said the former Minister of Defense.
"I understand from information that I have not been able to verify that President Zelensky has also confirmed this thesis. So this is not evidence that can stand up in a court case, but there are so many indications that with a huge degree of confidence it can be determined who the source of these strikes is," he added.
"When I say that the government does not share all the information - we certainly have systems for monitoring the Black Sea, and our allies also have such systems. We can exchange information with them to determine whether there were Russian ships in this area, how far away they were, what they were doing and in what direction they were sailing. There is a lot of such information that has not been shared with us. By saying that it was about air and sea drones, Radev, in my opinion, directed the thinking of experts in the direction that it was possible that this was a Ukrainian strike," commented former Defense Minister Prof. Todor Tagarev.