Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov is manipulatively presenting data and politicizing the problem of the lack of aircraft for extinguishing fires. This became clear from the words of Dimitar Stoyanov, Secretary for Security and Defense of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and former Minister of Defense, who was a guest on the show "The Day" begins".
At the beginning of the conversation, Stoyanov read a quote from the National Disaster Protection Plan from 2010, when the government of Boyko Borisov with Chief Secretary of the Council of Ministers Rosen Zhelyazkov was in power.
"The experience in recent years shows that it is not possible to extinguish fires using only manpower and ground equipment. The need to use specialized aircraft to extinguish large fires was proven," the document says.
"And here is the question - where is the country 15 years after this finding was made? What was said yesterday at a briefing by Mr. Borisov, that there have been no large fires in recent years, is not true. Data from the Copernicus system clearly show that the largest fires were in 2007. 680,000 acres burned then. Last year it was 450,000 acres, this year so far it has been about 250,000 acres. That is, it is a fact that there are fires and such equipment is needed."
The Secretary of Security and Defense of the President emphasized that on the part of the presidential institution, the dialogue on the topic of purchasing new aircraft for extinguishing fires is constructive.
"Criticism and raising such important questions by the President of the Republic is not politicizing the problem. On the contrary, the presidential institution has provided a concept that is an expert opinion and offers a solution on how to solve the problem of purchasing such aircraft for extinguishing fires from the air. However, there is no constructiveness on the other side. Note that a few days ago the Prime Minister threw into the public space a statement, manipulative of course, that the President wants to buy "Spartans". If he has carefully read the concept of the presidential institution, several priorities are listed there. And the first priority is the restoration of the suitability of the aircraft that we currently have, i.e. the "Cougar" helicopters. This is the first and most operational action. This must be done. Then there is a proposal to purchase other equipment that is specialized for extinguishing fires and then for "Spartans". It is surprising that the Prime Minister requested an additional analysis, provided that this analysis has been on his desk since October last year. But the same Prime Minister on January 31, 2025, when asked by a Member of Parliament, he quoted exactly the report of the Ministry of Defense and this analysis. And it is written there that the Ministry of Defense wants to purchase 3 "Spartans". How did the Prime Minister suddenly decide that the president decided that these Spartans should be purchased? Yes, the Spartans are an option. And it is a fourth option. And so it is written in the concept itself. This is a manipulative presentation of data. And this is not a constructive dialogue, this is politicization of the problem. There is no politicization of the problem by the presidential institution. There is constructive criticism, there is also an expert opinion."
As "extremely incompetent opinion" Stoyanov qualified the statement of the Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov that with the 1 million leva allocated last year, the necessary hooks and "bambi bucket" for helicopter aviation were purchased and invested in the operation, repair and maintenance of the helicopters.
"First of all, let me say that for "Bambi buckets" and the 1 million units - were allocated at my insistence at the National Security Council, which was held last year, in July. Then, some 800 million were put on the table, and this proposal came from a representative, of course, of "DPS - Nothing New", I will call it. These 800 million were intended to be spent on two firefighting aircraft plus three helicopters. Indeed, at this council, a decision was made at my proposal to allocate financial resources for the purchase of "Bambi buckets" and the hooks that are necessary for these systems. All "Cougar" helicopters that are airworthy are suitable to participate in firefighting processes. There is no need for modifications, there is a need to restore airworthiness," said Dimitar Stoyanov.