“People should not be scared. Bulgaria faces no risk because we are part of NATO and Russia would not dare to attack a NATO member country,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told reporters on Monday, Bulgarian agency BTA reported, as quoted by Agerpres.

After returning to the country after a one-day official visit to Greece, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria was asked to react to the statement of the Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Peter Tolstoy, who said on Friday on the air of the TV channel “Russia-24” that “in Bulgaria, our citizens occupy the entire coast. They will start showing everything. There is no problem. They are not big powers that make sense to play with.”

“Petro Tolstoy is not challenging Bulgaria for the first time. We probably would have ignored these challenges if he had not been an MP. He is acting within the framework of institutional representation and, in making these statements, he is crossing boundaries that are unacceptable. I will speak with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I think it is necessary to give a clear sign that these statements are unacceptable. The Russian ambassador in Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, should understand this message. I do not think that she should be declared persona non grata because of such a statement. After all, the statement is not hers,” the head of the Bulgarian government said.

Tolstoy sees Bulgaria and Romania as possible objects of Russian military aggression after the end of the war in Ukraine

​Prime Minister Denkov referred to the statement of the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria, which quoted Tolstoy, identifying Bulgaria and Romania as possible objects of Russian military aggression after the end of the war in Ukraine. The NGO listed six steps to protect Bulgaria from Russian “hybrid aggression,” including declaring (Ambassador) Mitrofanov persona non grata on July 24.

“Bulgaria is not only a target of Russia’s hybrid war, but also a state over which the Kremlin wants to establish its control. Putin will not take too kindly to the means used to do so. From his point of view, everything depends on opportunities, and if they are available, then Bulgaria can also become an object of Russian military aggression,” the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria said.

“We should not give in to challenges,” Denkov urged. In his opinion, a significant part of these statements were made for the Russian public.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister also noted that there is an opportunity to significantly increase the capacity of Ukrainian grain through the Bulgarian railway system, and this issue was on his agenda during the talks with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens.

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