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Bulgarian social media is heavily targeted by Russian propaganda due to our linguistic and cultural closeness. A lot of our boomers will just parrot whatever they read on Facebook.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)


Bulgaria, one of the poorest EU members and long perceived as pro-Moscow, helped Ukraine survive Russia's early onslaught by secretly supplying it with large amounts of desperately needed diesel and ammunition, the politicians responsible have said.
Sofia did not supply Ukraine directly, but allowed Bulgarian intermediaries to sell to their counterparts in Ukraine or Nato member states, and kept open its air links with Poland and land routes via Romania and Hungary, Peskov told the paper.
They were especially sensitive since the fuel Bulgaria was shipping to Ukraine was produced from Russian crude oil, at a refinery near Burgas on the Black Sea operated by Russia's Lukoil.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Ukraine^#1 Bulgaria^#2 supply^#3 Petkov^#4 Russia^#5 >


They were especially sensitive since the fuel Bulgaria was shipping to Ukraine was produced from Russian crude oil, at a refinery near Burgas on the Black Sea operated by Russia's Lukoil.

The funniest part if you ask me. >

Whole this war is filled with this shit. Russia is supplying Europe with gas through Ukraine and paying Ukraine for this. Madness. >

It's not that uncommon.
The USA carried on selling military vehicles to Nazi Germany for months after they declared war on them.  It takes time for all the gears in such big and complex economies to shift. >

Was that the US shipping vehicles to Nazi Germany, or are you confusing that with the Nazi operated German subsidiaries of the Big 3 producing vehicles in Germany. >

So Bulgaria purchased crude oil from Russia, processed it at its Lukoil-owned essentially Russian refinery and sent it to Ukraine.
Funny stuff. >

And they did it hidden away from their allied pro-Russia coalition lol >

Or so they claim. The "pro-Russian" (Russian subsidized) would get their funding suspended, if their boss found out they knew about it and didn't stop it. It's hard to hide such exports regardless. >

If anything can bring Europe together, is figthing against Russia, even secretly. >

Precisely. Russia is amazing at being able to mobilize vast swathes of diverse countries against it. I'm from a country bordering Russia, I don't want to dislike my neighbour, but the Kremlin's actions leave one little choice. >

At this point it's either hate Russia, or be genocided by them. >

I really hope the world ends by meteor strike and not a fucking race war. I just want to have a fuckin garden and raise my kids and the whole fuckin world is on fire. I don't get to know that my children get to even have a future because everyone is constantly threatening war instead of pooling resources and information. >

Despite all this, the world is a more peaceful place than it has ever been. Violent death is way down, and you and your kids never had a better chance to die of old age. >

Not when food becomes unavailable to common folk. >

Or drinkable water. >

I'm semi thankful I live near Superior, but I feel with rising ocean and red states going haywire the Midwest is going to be a refuge of sorts for a lot. The water is only going to amplify that. But at least ig lake Superior gets drained I can agate hunt easier right? Lol >

I feel ya.  I lived in Milwaukee for 30 years - my other half’s brother (and his two daughters & family’s) all moved from Kansas to MKE  like 10 years ago because of ‘global warming’.   I laughed when I heard him say that,  when he got done explaining he wanted his grandkids to be adults in a state that was not actively drying out - I got it.
The Great Lake states are going to be real sexy solely because of their water supply in the near future. >

I grew up in Wyoming and live in Maryland now (go where the work is...). I've always planned on moving back West when I retired, but what with the wildfires and drought, that's completely off the table now, let alone 10 or 20 years from now. >

Yesterday it came out that supposedly we gave Ukraine 14 Su-25 that we had.
Our Minister of Defence came out and said that no planes have been sold in the past year to appease everyone 
4D chess >

It's like Lukashenko promising Putin to send "up to 7 divisions" to invade Ukraine.  And then sending 0.  Which is.... technically... "up to 7."
This is what happens if you push the literal rest of the world too far. >

Forever friends >

Most former Warsaw Pact countries seem to understand the importance of helping Ukraine stop Russia now >

This can’t be stressed enough.  That the former Warsaw Pact countries saw Ukraine getting invaded and essentially all of them said “fuck that.” >

Belarus also shows what life is like if you get too cozy with Russia and give up your sovereignty. >

For the record. Belarusian citizens spent most of 2020 in the streets protesting the (widely condemned as illegitimate) re-election of Lukashenko. It's not like Belarus is wrapped around Russia's little finger. Belarus is pinned under Russia's thumb. >

Fuck Sad Vlad's oppressive and authoritarian government. No one is innocent or safe in their putrid eyes.
I'm sure if he wasn't a trigger-happy nutcase, Belarusian would probably oppose Russia a lot more. >

Another take on that is that Russia has never been as weak or vulnerable, any countries looking to assert their independence could join with Ukraine. >

I smell Chechens!
Plotting another revolution, I mean. >

I hope so. Georgia can win some territory back as well. >

Now would certainly be the time. I’d love to see Russia fighting on about 5 fronts right about now. >

According to our officials we are not helping,but this is a public secret in our country.There are rumours that we are in top 5 suppliers to Ukraine >

Aussie here. One thing I've learned from this war is that I did not comprehend the depth of contempt Eastern Europe had for Russia. >

This movie will explain perfectly to you why there is so much contempt. It's about Bulgarian history but similar things happened to all other post-soviet countries and satellites. >

Yeah, we couldn’t send any heavy weapons because they are frankly obsolete and in poor maintenance. However the Arsenal factory’s been working in three shifts for months. We’ve sent tons upon tons of small arms ammo. >

This explains Arsenal factory's newly open recruit offices in nearby cities. >

Yeah, Bulgaria has got a lot of factories left over from the USSR days that were responsible for producing Warsaw Pact calibers of artillery shells.  Western factories are only setup to produce NATO calibers.
Since the war got started, those Bulgarian factories have been working around the clock to produce tons of the stuff, which has been being purchased by Poland (probably with American money) who seems to have suddenly developed an insatiable appetite for it, despite having a relatively low number of systems that can use it. Strange.
Sadly, it turns out Poland has totally awful warehouse security and they keep misplacing the ammo they just purchased, which has an uncanny knack for showing up in the hands of those cheeky thieving Ukranians.
Oh well, better order another shipment to replace the one that got  "lost". >

That was an open secret since first months of the big invasion. Bulgaria was doing their best. >

Bulgaria manufactures some quality AK74 pattern rifles that Ukrainians are probably pretty familiar with. They also manufacture a LOT of the 5.45x39mm ammunition that these rifles use so it makes sense for them to help if they can from the logistics standpoint. >

Western Europe: “We’ll supply Ukraine but we can’t take it too far; just one step at a time”
Eastern Europe: “BLOOD FOR BLOOD! BLOOD FOR BLOOD!” >

They know what life is like under the russian boot. >

Not how many people view it in Bulgaria. While the majority of younger people (as far as I've seen) are anti-Russian and pro-West, the older generation who lived during our communist phase are generally pro-Russia.
Those people liked communism (we were much worse before it, my grandmother has stories about hunger and how a single orange was a treasured gift for Christmas), some studied in Russia, have friends there and consider them "brotherly" people. They've watched Russian cartoons as children and read Russian books as teenagers.
Also historically we have a lot of good will for Russia, since it was them who liberated us from the Ottoman Empire, after 500 years of occupation.
I don't know what Eastern European nations think (we are Southern more than Eastern), but the majority of Bulgarians had no issue with Russia, before this war, and even now many still don't. >

Russia liberated Bulgaria in 19th century for their own self interests. Imagine if Bulgaria wasn't communist after WW2 how far ahead economically it would be. Communism made things better but still lagged behind the west. Just look at Greece for example it's next door neighbor. >

Bulgaria has the chushkopek.  Greece does not.  Bulgaria is clearly superior. >

That's the shirt of Southeastern European smack talk I don't understand but expect. I imagine it's the equivalent of a Minnesotan telling a Wisconsinite that they're tater tot hot dish is inferior. >

In rough translation, it would mean "We invented and have the tool to roast peppers". To which a Greek would probably reply with "But do you have olives?" >

How dare you refer to Bulgaria's Household Revolution of the 20th Century as a mere "pepper roaster"?  It also does eggplants and other vaguely cylindrical vegetables. >

Thank you Bulgaria 🇧🇬 😘 💓 >

The Ministry Council banned the direct export of ammunition and weapons (under pressure from pro-russian parties) to Ukraine during the first few months of the war, so what we did was sell weapons and fuel to Poland, who'd then gift them to Ukraine. This was pretty common knowledge here, news would talk about it a lot, there was even footage of semi trucks and planes loaded with ammo headed for Poland. Although the government denied us giving weapons to Ukraine basically everybody knew about it. >

A very good move. They assumed they were in the crosshairs after a Russian takeover of Ukraine and they most likely weren’t wrong. >

We were and this is the reason why Poland and Bulgaria were the first countries to be cut from Russian gas supplies >

I've been to a few formerly-USSR countries, and the one thing that I've seen that brings them together is their shared hatred of going back to the old days.  They've had a taste of western culture and values and want no part of asbestos, brutalist concrete, and dumb as dogshit klepto-politics.
For example, Latvia has the "Museum of the Soviet Occupation of Latvia" where you can learn about how Russia treated the Latvian people.  Follow that up with a visit to the Corner House, where you can see the bullet holes in the walls where the KGB executed said people.
As for Ukraine, I remember being in a small town in the south west of the country.  It was a beautiful fall day, and I was waiting in line for a coffee, just grinning about being there.  Well, the guy in front of me was very worried about interacting with this strange foreigner - as I found out from a more experienced colleague, "he was thinking that anybody who looks that happy must be mentally challenged."
I'm not surprised at all that the Ukrainians have given the Russians an absolute kicking.  No one wants what Russia has to offer, and stop trying to make "fetch" happen Putin. >


"he was thinking that anybody who looks that happy must be mentally challenged."

May also just be a cultural thing. It's not normal to smile passively in that part of the world. Smiling is something you do when you're laughing at a joke for instance, so if you just smile at someone on the street they may think you are laughing at them. And if you're walking around with a smile on your face then yeah, people will think you're funny in the head. >

Coolgaria >

It must be fun for the Russians to find out who their real friends are >

Literally no-one. >

Secrecy should be used by all supporting countries. Too much advertisement and PR stuff from EU/NATO countries, be it for weapons to come in several months or disagreements between country leaders on delivering weapons. Let Ukraine decide when they want to air out the success of these things. >

It’s not that easy. You need to manage your own yard with news like this. >

And what did Bulgaria get? Denied application to join Schengen. >

We pretty much deserve it. I can see why Austria and the Netherlands voted against its just that we aren't ready to be in Schengen. There was a scandal months ago for high level corruption at the border point with Turkey. Not only will illegal migrants flow into Europe through Bulgaria but lots of other things like GMO products, low quality foods or outright expired, drugs etc.. you get the point. >

There are corruption scandals everywhere. Even without the scandals, there is a lot of corruption in Schengen countries too. We absolutely did not deserve it. Stop with the heard mentality. If you consider yourself a 2nd class European, they will treat you as 2nd class European. >

And we don't even know yet what Romania did. It is all hush hush by everyone but apparently they carried a LOT of the vital help Ukraine got and it is also classified. People hint that only after the war can Romania's contribution be fully publicized.
And this is why I've said over and over that Ukraine only survived from March to May thanks to eastern Europe, other slavic nations and Britain. Everyone else started properly delivering meaningful support in May and after. >

The article said Bulgaria laundered the stuff through Romania and it was paid for by US/UK. >

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!! Suck shit, Putin!!
Bulgaria's Putin their big cock in Russia's ass! >

You’re so disgusting!  We could be friends. Haha. >

<3 >

Ukraine: Bulgaria, mate, can you help us out with some fuel and ammo
Other nations: Be careful Bulgaria, we cannot be openly seen to be taking sides with weaponry in case it causes the war to escalate.
Ukraine: Cowards.  Come on Bulgaria, Russia is being a bastard so surely you can help?
Bulgaria:  
Other nations: 
 
Those who know, know. >

I spent some time in Bulgaria and my wife lived there for a year. From what I heard, Bulgarians hate Russians and this isn't a surprise at all. >

I spent two years in Bulgaria working. Historically Russia was bulgarias best friend. In WW2 Bulgaria fought on the side of the Nazis, until the Nazis declared war on Russia, that’s when Bulgaria switched sides >

Not quite. Bulgarian-Russian relations have often been quite strained through the last 140 years. Definitely not as friendly as Russia-Serbia have been for example. Ever since 1878 there have been many Bulgarian politicians that always tried to bring Bulgaria out of the Russian sphere of influence and more toward the West.
As for WW2 - Bulgaria declared war on US and Britain on December 13th 1941. Bulgaria never declared war on the USSR, but was allied with Germany for years during the German invasion of USSR. 
Bulgaria declared neutrality on August 27th 1944.
Bulgaria declared war on Germany on September 9th 1944. >

Bulgaria is part of NATO, why did people worry about being attacked?