I am satisfied with what has been achieved. You know that every government begins with a program, priorities, measures and goals and ends with a report. During the current term of the caretaker government, not only in the Ministry of Defense, all ministers made a report on how we have fulfilled the priorities, what issues we have resolved and what problematic issues remain to be resolved and passed on to our successors. In this sense, I am satisfied. Whether everything has been done - I doubt it. There are still many open questions for the army and many problems to be solved by the new Minister of Defense. This was stated in the program “Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov” on NOVA NEWS by former Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov.
He emphasized that during the handover of power he had the opportunity to talk absolutely frankly with the new Minister Dimitar Stoyanov. "I have explained the situation. Minister Stoyanov was a caretaker minister, he knows defense and I think he will quickly step in and make his assessment of the situation", Zapryanov pointed out.
He is the only defense minister to have retained his post in four consecutive cabinets. "In all four governments in which I have been a minister, the prime ministers have personally called me. In the case of the caretaker cabinet - Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov. There is no one else to call me. It was very reasonable to think in a short period of time, as there were many urgent issues to be resolved. The first was the crisis in Iran and the US operation. Then we worked on the SAFE mechanism and the projects that had to be ready by the end of April. There were also ongoing rearmament projects - the arrival of the F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the “Stryker“ program, as well as the construction in Graf Ignatievo. For a new person, two and a half months are absolutely insufficient," he explained.
When asked if there were any new commitments under the agreement with Ukraine, Zapryanov replied: "There is nothing new. This is a political declaration based on existing bilateral agreements. Bulgaria can benefit from Ukraine's experience, especially in the field of drones and modern technologies".
He was categorical that we have not provided military assistance to Ukraine in recent months.
He added that American planes at the “Vasil Levski“ airport can remain there until May 31. "The extension of this period depends on the American side and on a new diplomatic request. And secondly - on the conditions under which it would like these planes to remain, which must be considered and a decision made. So far, the conditions have been related to their deployment within the framework of the enhanced forward presence on the Eastern flank. There was a limit of 15 aircraft - in strict accordance with the Law on the Residence and Transit of Armed Forces on the Territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. For a short period, there was such a case - there were 15. Currently there are 12, as far as I remember", he pointed out.
And he stressed that with regard to the situation with Iran - he expects complex negotiations and possible escalation. "There are several key topics - the nuclear program, ballistic missiles and support for proxies", Zapryanov pointed out.
And when asked what he will do after leaving the ministerial post, Zapryanov replied: "I will rest and analyze what has been done. If I can, I will give advice when needed. It is important that defense remains a priority state policy".