The largest one-time military aid package – which includes 100 armoured vehicles from the Bulgarian police stockpile, mostly infantry carrier vehicles – was sent to Ukraine in what was Sofia’s first official decision to help Kyiv with heavy equipment, Bulgarian authorities announced, Report informs referring to Euractiv.
The military equipment was bought 40 years ago to carry out the so-called Revival process – the totalitarian regime’s attempt to forcefully assimilate the Bulgarian Turks by changing their names, which led to the exile of more than 300,000 Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin to Türkiye nearly 40 years ago.
“This is armoured military equipment purchased during the Revival Process and has never been used. At the same time, it generates costs for storage and maintenance,” said Ivaylo Mirchev from the governing coalition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria.
“The Ukrainians will ensure this technique is useful to them,” added the Bulgarian MP.
Armoured vehicles were part of one of the most tragic periods of the totalitarian regime in the Balkan country, while the Bulgarian Communist Party (1944-1989) was in power in Sofia and turned Bulgaria into a satellite of the USSR.