The stock of the Bulgarian Army's armament is as required by the regulatory documents - some are in reserve, others are in the formations. We must maintain a certain readiness with a certain amount of ammunition and equipment. This stock is necessary to maintain the combat readiness of the Bulgarian Army. We cannot provide ammunition if we are shooting a sub-standard amount and violating the regulatory documents.
This was stated by the Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov in the program "The Day Begins" on BNT.
According to him, a list has been uploaded on the Ministry of Defense website, in which one can see the obsolete equipment. "But it is not in the interest of Ukraine", he stressed.
According to Minister Stoyanov, our country should not have provided S-300 missiles to Ukraine. He added that this was Minister Tagarev's decision.
The Minister of Defense also noted that the funds for providing military aid to Ukraine were given for the repair of the MiG-29, as well as to cover the state deficit. "These funds have entered the Ministry of Finance, but half of the value of the funds has not been allocated to the Ministry of Defense", Minister Stoyanov pointed out.
Stoyanov was categorical that the Ministry of Defense has never provided weapons to Ukraine through an intermediary.
He also commented on the problem with bank guarantees on MoD projects. "The information was provided because the MoD did not expect that this was possible. Some cases concern national security. We wanted to activate the rapid action of the Ministry of Interior, the National Agency for National Security and the Prosecutor's Office", he said.
Minister Zapryanov is checking a contract and they have found that there is no bank guarantee. During the check, it was found that 9 contracts were not backed by a real bank guarantee. After that, mechanisms were made so that there would be no such case, Minister Stoyanov added.
He noted that these are projects in Graf Ignatievo and Karlovo. "Work is continuing on them. The risk is that if we find poor quality, we cannot withdraw the bank guarantee and protect the financial resources that were previously given," Dimitar Stoyanov further specified.