Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented on the plans of the German concern Rheinmetall ("Rheinmetall") to build a large plant for the production of gunpowder and ammunition in Bulgaria. According to her, Moscow sees "steps that clearly bring the situation to the verge". Here is Zakharova's full statement, quoted by the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria:
I think everyone saw how on October 28 this year in Sofia, in the presence of the top political leadership of Bulgaria, the signing of the contract between the state military-industrial enterprise "Vazovsky Machine-Building Plants" (Sopot) and the German concern Rheinmetall regarding the construction of a large plant for the production of gunpowder and ammunition in Bulgarian territory. This is another move to redirect European economies towards military production.
A telling episode was the tour of the President of the European Commission W. von der Leyen to several “frontline“ EU countries, as they were qualified in Brussels, including Bulgaria, in late August and early September of this year. Then she categorically demanded an increase in military spending and expansion of military-technical production, naturally with a specific goal (which was also no secret) - “contradicting Russia“, which has long become an obsessive idea, or rather an obsession for European bureaucrats. This is a convenient way to cover up the failed results of economic and social policy and the inability to deal with systemic problems at home. In this case, this is a way to divert the attention of Bulgarian citizens from Brussels' failed policy of European integration. Previously, when the European Union was still the European Economic Community, this union helped people to live. Now it prevents them.
In conditions where many European countries remain sovereign only in words, their governments mechanically carry out orders from Brussels, without thinking about the real situation – the needs of their own citizens. We see steps that are clearly taking the situation to the brink. Let me remind you that earlier a contract was signed for the construction of a gunpowder plant in Romania by the Rheinmetall concern.
We consider the trend towards militarization of the European Union to be catastrophic, which, given the events in Ukraine and the role of the West in Ukrainian affairs, leads to an excessive increase in military and political risks in Europe.