“In times when Bulgaria needs to rearm with Western equipment, with NATO equipment, it turns out that we asked to buy Polish MiG-29s. It is right to buy old F-16s or “Gripen”, or whatever the experts from the Ministry of Defense decide, but let's not turn into a graveyard for Soviet aircraft.” This was stated by the co-chairman of “Yes, Bulgaria” Ivaylo Mirchev to journalists on the sidelines of the parliament. The reason for this statement was reports in the Polish press that Bulgaria is looking to purchase MiG-29 fighters from Poland with a few hours of flight time remaining, which was initially denied by the Ministry of Defense, but was later confirmed by the Polish side.
Mirchev announced that the DB would support any adequate solution for Western aircraft that the Ministry of Defense chooses. He added that our eight F-16 Block 70s should start giving combat duty, because currently fewer MiG-29s carry them. “Ukraine in wartime, while they are being bombed all day, managed to master the F-16 in a year and a half, we cannot in two years, we must pull ourselves together and do this job”, said the party leader.
With concerns about the country's energy security and fuel prices, the DB will request a hearing of the Minister of Economy Alexander Pulev. Ivaylo Mirchev reported that no answers were given in the plenary hall to questions from Great Britain and the United States as to whether “Lukoil Neftochim Burgas” was processing Russian oil disguised as Kazakh. He pointed out that on June 30 Bulgaria had concluded a certain deal with “Litasko”, which no one knows what it was. On July 2 a letter arrived from the British government stating that there was a suspicion that “Lukoil” was processing Russian oil disguised as Kazakh - based on an investigation by “Bird”. On July 7, there was a new letter from the British government in a similar direction, and on July 14, a request came from the American OFAC with 6 questions, one of which was about the origin of the oil.
“We did not receive an answer to any of these questions in the hall, so we will ask for a hearing from the Minister of Economy, because if we violate the sanctions, we will not be able to process oil at “Neftochim”. The public should see these letters and understand whether the doubts of the British and Americans that we are processing Russian oil disguised as Kazakh oil are justified, said Ivaylo Mirchev.