“The exact opposite is happening every day — even more victims, even more destruction, even more lost territories,” he said. “Is Europe afraid of the return of peace? Because the return of peace also means returning public attention to the crises that are smoldering within our countries and societies.”
Radev decided to deliver his criticism of the EU’s aid to Ukraine on the very day that Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrates the Victory Day parade in Moscow.
Although the Bulgarian presidency is largely a ceremonial role, Radev has become an unusually powerful figure due to the country’s deadlocked parliament, which has seen Bulgarians head to the polls seven times in the last four years and enhanced his own profile.
Radev has parroted Kremlin talking points before, deriding the prospect of Ukraine’s victory over Russia as “impossible” last May, and in January blamed European leaders for “hundreds of thousands of victims” in Ukraine by encouraging Kyiv’s counteroffensive.
His Kremlin sympathies earned him an acid-tongued rebuke from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a televised meeting between the two leaders in 2023 at the presidential palace in Sofia.
“God forbid some tragedy should befall you and you should be in my place … You would say: Putin, please grab Bulgarian territory?” Zelenskyy asked mockingly, after which a chastened Radev asked the cameras to leave the room.
