Sofia: Bulgarian President Rumen Radev made criticism from the United States on Monday because his remarks about the status of the Crimean Peninsula, the day after he secured his second term with a trajectory victory in the election of the Limpans.
The US Embassy released a statement to voice “deep concern” for Radev’s latest comments where he refers to Crimea as Russia.
The peninsula was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, and NATO and the European Union both considered it still part of Ukraine.
In the President’s debate with his middle-right opponent Anastas Gerdzhikov on Thursday, Radev insisted on having a pragmatic bond with Russia, added that the EU had to recover his dialogue with Moscow.
“Sanctions forced because Crimea and Ukraine did not produce results,” Radev said.
He said the Crimean Peninsula was “Russia,” added, “What else can happen?” This statement has encouraged protests from the Ukrainian government.
“The United States, G-7, the European Union, and NATO are all clear and united in our position that, despite the annexation of Russian experiments and sustainable work, Crimea is Ukraine,” Embassy U8 said.
“We are all, including Bulgaria, stated in the Crimea platform summit in August that Crimea is an integral part of Ukraine and that we do not and will not recognize Russian efforts to legitimize convulsions and illegal occupation on the peninsula,” said the statement.
Also on Monday, the Radev press office remembered that the President had repeatedly said that Crimean’s anexation violated international law.
“This is a clearly revealed position of Bulgaria in all international organizations,” said the press office and added that from the point of view of the Crimea law owned by Ukraine, and Bulgaria had repeatedly expressed its support for the integrity of sovereignty and territory of Ukraine.
“As President Radev said in the campaign debate, ‘Currently Crimea was controlled by Russia and it was very clear that the problem could not be resolved by force,” said his office and added that Radev had expressed concern about this factual situation “which created tension attention in relationships International, especially in the Black Sea region, which has a direct influence on Bulgarian security and its allies.
“Bulgaria is very divided into loyalty.
While it belongs to NATO and EU, many Bulgaria still feels cultural affinity and historic with Russia.
The country of the Black Sea remains dependent on Russian energy and has been exposed to growing tensions between Russia and the West.
With almost all ballots counted, Radev has 66% of votes in the election of runoff, the country’s election commission said Monday.
His opponent, Anastas Gerdzhikov, conceded defeat and Congratulations Radev, who will start the second term on January 22.