Remarks by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev that Romania bears indirect responsibility for attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea prompted an angry reaction in Romania. A television discussion even considered whether the Bulgarian government might be providing Russia with direct or indirect assistance for the attacks in the region.
Journalist Stilyan Deyanov, who has lived and worked in Bucharest for years, described the discussion in a Facebook post. He relayed the participants’ comments by meaning, based on notes taken during the broadcast.
Prof. Radu Albu Comanescu said he was beginning to wonder whether Bulgaria or the Bulgarian government was helping Russia in some way with the attacks. He said this could be happening directly or indirectly. Comanescu also noted that during the latest attack the vessel was not even heading toward Ukraine, but toward Constanta.
Journalist Cosmin Prelipceanu called Radev’s statement “some kind of delirium” with major logical problems. In his view, even a small child would ask how the president knew that the repeated attacks were Russian if he claimed they were retaliation. Prelipceanu sarcastically asked whether someone in Moscow had called Radev to tell him.
Florin Negrutiu said the attacks had taken place both before and after statements by Romanian officials. He argued that Europe is not at war with Russia, while Russia is at war with Europe.
Against this backdrop, politicians in Bucharest are trying to meet with their Bulgarian counterparts and seek joint measures to protect shipping. The commentators said, however, that the strong reaction to statements by Rumen Radev and Yotova was entirely understandable.
Radev said Romania had contributed indirectly to the attacks after its political leadership blamed Russia without, in his words, possessing evidence. He cited two vessels, one of them hit recently and then sunk in Romanian territorial waters.
“I only want to mention the case of Romania. They acted as follows: the political leadership in Romania came out and said: ‘We have no evidence, but we know very well that Russia is responsible for these attacks, and we condemn them categorically.’ And what happened? Two ships—one of them very recently—were struck and sunk in the boldest possible manner, within Romanian territorial waters,” the Bulgarian president said.
Radev linked the ships being struck and sunk to the point at which Bucharest identified Russia as the responsible party. He insisted that clear evidence was required before anyone could be blamed and maintained that such clear evidence was currently missing.
The Bulgarian president has also summoned the Russian ambassador to request an explanation. Rumen Radev continues to stress that responsibility must be established on the basis of clear evidence.
Source: dnes.bg
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4803 | 29 Oct. 2026 | 11:04
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