„Yesterday the world learned that we are a risky country, that we do not have well-functioning institutions, that the security of world leaders is not guaranteed, including in our own skies. This news is not good for everything we want to achieve in Bulgaria.“
This is what he said in „This Morning“ on bTV Rosen Plevneliev, President of Bulgaria from 2012 to 2017, in connection with the incident with Ursula von der Leyen's plane.
According to him, our services are not working well and Bulgaria has been the subject of very serious hybrid attacks for many years.
„We continue to be extremely dependent on Russian technology and Russian weapons. Our radars, which are more than 50 years old, continue to be Russian“, commented Plevneliev.
„Our people have assessed that there was not much drama. Plovdiv Airport said that everything was fine. I see this for myself - in Poland, the day before landing in Bulgaria, Ursula von der Leyen says that Putin is a predator. After that, she tries to land in Bulgaria and the GPS signal on her plane disappears. Who can do this? The Europeans don't even have such satellites. The only ones who have them are Russia, the USA and maybe now China“, pointed out Rosen Plevneliev.
According to him, there should be an investigation and the institutions should explain what happened.
„Russia is trying to create problems not only for airplanes, but also for shipping. Signals are now being jammed en masse in the Baltic Sea and this is a clear sign for all of us that we finally need to get serious about protecting our security. Bulgaria is the subject of severe hybrid attacks, Bulgaria is very penetrated, Russian propaganda is everywhere. They are brainwashing Bulgarians in an extremely brutal way – it is time to wake up“, said Plevneliev.
„If Ursula von der Leyen calls Putin a predator, I call him the Hitler of the 21st century. This is a man who kills millions of people. Who denies Ukrainians the right to exist. Even when there is a war, there are rules. You cannot kill civilians and bomb kindergartens and schools. This is a war crime and Putin is such a war criminal. Bulgarian politicians cannot legitimize him“, he also said.
“Putin must “project“ victory, and to do so, he must assess when he could do it. Without his decision, this war will not stop“, is the opinion of Rosen Plevneliev.
According to him, Donald Trump is a populist, and populists are not democrats.
“From this point of view, he is not a democrat and accordingly does not believe in institutions and rules, but believes in deals. If we have learned from history, we know that this leads to more wars and blood“, Plevneliev pointed out.