EU member refuses to point finger at Russia over German drone incident

Bulgarian PM Rumen Radev has said the attempted sabotage in Leipzig was “reckless,” but so are Western deliveries of long-range arms to Kiev Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has refused to assign blame for last month’s drone incident in Germany squarely to Russia, citing “reckless” Western weapons deliveries to Kiev.

Earlier this week, the German government said it had grounds to believe that Moscow was behind the incident, in which an explosive-laden UAV was found between Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes at Leipzig/Halle Airport on August 4.

Berlin subsequently announced the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin, as well as tighter border controls for Russian citizens.

Moscow responded by shutting down the Goethe Institute centers in Moscow, St.

Petersburg, and Ekaterinburg, which promote German language and culture.

Moscow has rejected the allegations, with President Vladimir Putin suggesting they were being used as a diversionary tactic to distract Germans from domestic economic woes.

Read more Neither rationality nor logic are present – ex-Austrian foreign minister on Euro-hysteria (VIDEO) While multiple fellow EU member states have issued statements backing Germany’s position, not all of them have jumped on the bandwagon of pointing the finger at Russia.

A case in point is Bulgaria, whose prime minister told the parliament on Friday that European shipments of long-range weapons to Ukraine have been just as “reckless” as the failed sabotage attempt in Germany last month.

Radev pointed out that Kiev is using Western-made weaponry, backed by European intelligence and instructors, to conduct strikes deep inside Russian territory.

“And what can we expect when we attack deep inside another country with our long-range weapons? Will it stand by or will it respond?” the Bulgarian prime minister inquired rhetorically.

Read more Moscow dismisses ‘fabricated’ German drone incident claims He went on to warn that the West’s insistence on achieving a “conventional military victory” over a major nuclear power is dramatically raising the risk of uncontrolled escalation with Moscow.

“Europe can exist without Russia, but Europe will hardly exist for long against Russia,” Radev concluded, calling on the EU to “sit down at the negotiating table [with Moscow] as soon as possible.” Meanwhile, a number of prominent political figures in Germany have called into question the government’s response to the drone incident and, more broadly, Berlin’s current hostile policies toward Russia.