BERLIN, January 18. /TASS/. Bulgaria secretly supplied diesel fuel to the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the start of Russia’s special military operation, Germany’s Die Welt newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing former Bulgarian Finance Minister Asen Vasilev.
"Bulgaria became one of the biggest diesel suppliers to Ukraine [after the launch of the special military operation], occasionally covering up to 40% of the country’s needs," the paper quoted the politician as saying.
Vasilev also specified that he had asked the management of an oil refinery in Burgas to send excess diesel fuel not intended for the domestic market (about 50% of output) to the Ukrainian Armed Forces after "a Ukrainian representative" had complained at an April meeting of the World Bank in Washington that his country was "running out of fuel."
The fuel supplies "were carried out in secret through foreign intermediary firms, the paper noted. Kiev officials confirmed in response to the newspaper’s request that they "received diesel fuel from Bulgaria at a critical moment." According to Die Welt, the "hide-and-seek" game came to an end early this year after Bulgaria gained full control of the oil refinery that ceased being linked with Moscow. At the same time, Sofia sent a request to the European Commission in November for permission to use Russian seaborne oil imports to produce and export diesel fuel.
On January 13, Bulgarian legislators overwhelmingly passed amendments to a law on the administrative regulation of economic activities related to oil and oil products, which make it possible to introduce external management at the Lukoil Neftohim Burgas oil refinery in a situation where national security, public order and critical supplies are in danger.
In response to Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow. In addition, Western countries started to provide weapons and military equipment to Kiev, whose total value is currently estimated at billions of dollars.