Borisov praised Radev for the sanctions against Russia and his behavior in the EU

"Radev deserves congratulations. For the way he manages to communicate with society – as far as his perception by Bulgarian voters is concerned. What they expect to hear and, accordingly – his behavior in Brussels. And he handled it extremely well. Because if we look at the European Council's decision – until now, the sanctions, including the economic and sectoral ones, were for 6 months. Now, when Radev is also in the European Council, and Orban is not, they are already for 1 year. Do you see the difference? Adopted by an absolute majority, to which Bulgaria also contributed," declared GERB leader Boyko Borisov during the party's youth academy in Rakovski.

Two days ago in Brussels, the European Council extended the sanctions against Russia for one year due to the war in Ukraine. The European leaders took a unanimous decision – including Rumen Radev, who voted "for" – for the existing restrictions to be extended for 12 months instead of the previous six. This is the first case in which such sanctions, aimed at various sectors of the Russian economy, are extended for a whole year.

It is not about the 21st package of sanctions, which Rumen Radev announced he would block in order to remove the restrictions proposed by the European Commission against the Russian patriarch and the former head of "Lukoil" Vagit Alekperov.

Borisov defined the channeling of the attention of Bulgarian politicians towards the veto for the Russian patriarch as an extremely skillful move: "And the fact that he very masterfully managed to involve, including my colleagues from PP-DB, or the increasingly vocal representatives of "Vazrazhdane" who are just looking for an excuse to speak out – he released the tension with the Russian patriarch, he also released the tension for other sanctions that he would not otherwise have supported in July. And in fact, the great success is that the sanctions went from 6 months to yearly for review, including the economic ones. We already have that".

"What you, the media in Bulgaria, did not understand – your correspondents caught it very accurately and did an excellent job. And what does a State Security officer have to do with their KGB, who became a patriarch – everything is clear there. Yes, undoubtedly, if we call the Russian church fraternal, the same applies to the Ukrainian one. And our church is Orthodox – three fraternal churches, the first two have quarreled. What does that have to do with us?!" added Borisov.

Member of Parliament from the ruling party "Progressive Bulgaria" Prof. Rumen Milanov presented a different interpretation on the topic of Patriarch Kirill. He defended the veto on the sanctions against the Russian clergyman, emphasizing that he "will not shoot with a 'Kalashnikov' machine gun and will not produce drones, and that there is no problem in him consecrating missiles, since the Bulgarian patriarch has consecrated battle flags".

"They say that Bulgaria is not loyal to Europe. But more importantly, it is loyal to Bulgaria. This case shows that we have a position on certain issues, which ultimately meets our interests," stated Prof. Milanov in an interview for bTV.

He also commented on the words of Acad. Nikolay Denkov, according to whom the country's position could lead to isolation from European partners. "Where are the economic consequences? We have set a goal to build a modern state and we work with concepts like X and Y, which we accept as authoritative," pointed out Milanov.

According to him, Bulgaria is not conducting a different policy towards Russia. "We are talking about our position as an Orthodox state regarding Orthodoxy. It will be interesting to see what the position of Greece and Cyprus will be".

"Bulgaria can fully be a mediator in the peace process between Russia and Ukraine. It is a member of NATO and the EU. Having such a position is completely normal," added Milanov further.