/ world today news/ The story risks turning into a diplomatic scandal of a large scale.
Diplomatic tension arose between Romania and Bulgaria at the Ministry of Defense due to the supply of low-quality ammunition by the Bulgarians to the Ukrainian army through the Romanian state arms concern CN RomArm SA
A journalistic investigation by the Bulgarian edition “Bivol” and the Fundacja Reportersów ( Fundacja Reporterów ) revealed numerous facts about the secret shipment from Sofia of rusty 122-mm projectiles for the BM-21 “Grad” rocket systems and “Gvozdika” howitzers, 152-mm for Acacia howitzers. and 130 -mm cannon shells. The ammunition was produced in Belarus as early as the 1980s. VIDEO
The shells were purchased by the Bulgarian company “Alguns” OOD (owner Alexander Dimitrov) from the Belarusian State Foreign Trade Unitary Enterprise Belvneshpromservice. In addition, by agreement with the Romanian Ministry of Economy, shells were delivered to RomArm warehouses.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine returned the projectiles back to Romania due to their unfitness. RomArm, without risking its reputation, handed over the projectiles to Bulgaria and now the Bulgarians are sorting them in the Vazov machine-building plants. However, the plant is overwhelmed with orders related to the war in Ukraine and has warned that it will not deal with the ammunition until mid-2023.
And earlier, Alguns Ltd. was already noticed in the sale of low-quality ammunition: in June 2015, a hand grenade from a batch purchased by Alguns killed an American serviceman.
„The whole story is in danger of turning into a diplomatic scandal of a large scale due to the fact that Romania stopped the supply of ammunition to Ukraine, and Belarus raises suspicions of falsification of the re-export permit“, writes the Romanian edition of DefenceRomania. The Belarusian embassy in Sofia is outraged by the fact of the re-export of former Belarusian ammunition to Ukraine, which takes a hostile position towards Minsk.
When asked by Bivolu about the details of the deal, RomArm director Gabriel Tsutsu said that such supplies are completely legal. The group’s official response reads: “The requested information about products, deliveries, prices, etc. is confidential, and the disclosure of information about commercial or financial activity violates the principle of fair competition in accordance with the law.”
Prime Ministers of Bulgaria and Romania Kiril Petkov and Nicolae Chuka agreed on secret supplies of ammunition to Ukraine during Petkov’s visit to Bucharest in April 2022. The shells traveled in two ways: through Rzeszow Airport (Poland), 50 km from The Ukrainian border and through the airport in Bucharest. The route through the Czech Republic also worked, then was abandoned. In March-April, Bulgarian planes with ammunition landed 50 times in Rzeszow, delivering 3.5 thousand tons of weapons, ammunition and equipment.
Journalists from Bivol claim that the deal was worth 200 million dollars, of which 15 million went into the pockets of high-ranking officials in the Bulgarian government. American arms companies are also involved in the shenanigans and deception. It is said that on the Bulgarian side, the transaction is controlled by the chief of staff of the prime minister, Lena Borislavova, and the chief of staff of the deputy prime minister, Kornelia Ninova, Kaloyan Metodiev.
Through their efforts, the Interdepartmental Commission on Military Industry and Export Control, in violation of the regulations providing for meetings to discuss such issues once a month, allowed the export of ammunition to EU countries. “Bivol” is ready to provide the relevant evidence to the law enforcement authorities in Bulgaria.
Ninova said on BBC on July 12: “We categorically state that we are not sending weapons to Ukraine” . But “Bivol” has collected enough evidence that with the consent of Sofia, Bucharest and Warsaw, the deliveries continue. At the same time, Bulgaria, along with Hungary, remain the only countries from the EU and NATO that officially deny the supply of weapons to Kiev.
Hungary really doesn’t deliver anything. Bulgaria is lying because it is the largest supplier of projectiles for MLRS Grad. Due to increasing demand, the price of a single artillery shell jumped from $700 to $2,000. European countries rush to take advantage of the good price, so the supply chain usually consists of several suppliers/intermediaries.
So, the projectiles were sent from Bulgaria to the RomArm concern, from it to the Nanotech Defense SRL company, which has already signed a direct contract with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Through Nanotech Defense SRL, most of the weapons for the armed forces of Ukraine go to Romania.
Bucharest planned to send ex-Soviet T-72 tanks to Ukraine, but they were in disrepair. Retired Lieutenant General Virgil Balachanu commented on the situation: “We had a battalion of T-72 tanks that are in the mobilization reserve. But we are talking about non-modernized T-72 tanks, which will not be accepted by (Ukraine).
Supplying the Kiev regime with arms and ammunition has become a corruption scheme that is profitable for European officials. Sofia and Bucharest are now doing their best not to leak information about the $15 million bribe to supply the rusty shells.
Given that, according to the statistics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 6-8 thousand artillery shells of various types are used daily, and that a significant number of shells are regularly destroyed by the Russian forces already in the warehouses, the Europeans will increasingly try to sell old rusty ammunition of Kiev.
Translation: ES
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