“This week, Bulgaria made its contribution to European foreign policy – Brussels respected Bulgaria’s reservations regarding THREE individuals: the Russian Patriarch, the owner of Lukoil – Alekperov, and the chairman of the association that supplies spare parts for the Sofia Metro train carriages – Makhmutov” [Author’s note: Makhmudov]
This, apparently, is what success looks like for Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev – subordinating the will of the European Union to Russia’s influence by protecting three of its oligarchs.
Here are the people Radev saved, and how their pardon from sanctions was explained to the Bulgarian people:
Vladimir Gundyayev
Radev’s Justification: In Russia, Gundyayev has been given the title “Patriarch of Moscow” and, according to Rumen Radev, sanctions against him are an attack on the Orthodox Church. He argues that, because Bulgaria is also an Orthodox country, it is its duty to defend the “Patriarch of Moscow.”
Reality: Gundyayev is a Russian oligarch who uses the Russian Orthodox Church as a weapon in the service of Putin’s war. He calls the full-scale war against Ukraine a “holy war,” and the Church recently began recruiting “volunteers” to “go for at least several months” to the occupied Ukrainian territories. Like Putin, Gundyayev was a KGB agent.
Vagit Alekperov
Radev’s Justification: According to Radev, Bulgaria cannot allow sanctions against Alekperov because they are against the country’s national interest. According to the Prime Minister, such sanctions should not be allowed because Lukoil is suing Bulgaria.
Reality: There is absolutely no indication of any connection between potential EU sanctions imposed on Alekperov and Lukoil’s lawsuit against Bulgaria – this is Radev’s imaginary scenario. Alekperov is a Russian oligarch with the largest shareholding in Lukoil, but without direct voting rights.
If Radev is afraid of him, it means he is so weak that he allows Alekperov to blackmail and manipulate him by using Lukoil as leverage against Bulgaria.
Iskander Makhmudov
Radev’s Justification: He is linked to a company that supplies parts for the Sofia Metro train carriages and, once again, supporting sanctions against him would be against the national interest.
Reality: Once again, there is absolutely no indication that European sanctions imposed personally on Makhmudov would harm the Sofia Metro. If Radev has given in to blackmail, this demonstrates his weakness as a statesman, but this explanation sounds more like a fabricated excuse for serving the Kremlin’s business interests than a response to any genuine threat.
Makhmudov is a Russian oligarch sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act.
In any case, the Sofia Metro is already replacing its old train carriages, making Radev’s justification even less logical.
Presented this way, the situation appears simple – three oligarchs saved from sanctions without any real benefit for Bulgaria. The EU sanctions target the three individuals themselves, not the Orthodox Church or the companies with which they are associated.
Radev’s justifications sound hollow and disconnected from reality because it is obvious that his actions serve only the interests of these three oligarchs and the business interests of Putin’s regime. What is particularly disgusting is that he has been told to present this as something done in defence of the “Orthodox Church” and the “Bulgarian national interest.” The reason I believe Radev is being “told” what to say is the fact that he frequently repeats almost word for word the same talking points used by Putin, Peskov, and other representatives of the Kremlin regime.
It is also disgusting because, through his openly pro-Kremlin actions, Radev is damaging this so-called “Bulgarian national interest” by alienating the country’s European partners in order to serve the interests of a regime that already has one foot in the grave.
And unfortunately, while other countries are already preparing for a world without Putin, Radev is pulling Bulgaria back towards the time when it was a satellite of another dying regime.
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