Bulgaria: we need to abandon Russian military equipments or face catastrophe

[hellheaven1987]

"Catastrophic consequences" await the Bulgarian armed forces if they are not weaned soon from dependence on old Russian equipment and repairs, according to outgoing Defence Minister Velizar Shalamanov.

He was speaking in a BBC interview amid a war of words that has broken out between Bulgaria and Russia over Russian involvement in Ukraine and Russian pressure to speed up work on the South Stream gas pipeline, which will cross Bulgaria.

As an EU and Nato member with strong traditional links to Russia, Bulgaria is walking a tightrope between East and West.

Bulgaria was said to have frozen work on the Russian gas pipeline project in August, under EU and US pressure. According to Russia, work on the ground continues.

Tensions between Bulgaria and Russia grew when President Rosen Plevneliev described Russia as "a nationalist and aggressive state" for its involvement in Ukraine.

Suggestions from outgoing Defence Minister Shalamanov that Bulgaria might buy used F-16s from Italy or Greece, or Eurofighters from Portugal, prompted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to tweet: "News from Bulgaria: a certain Shalamanov has convinced Prime Minister Bliznashki to once again betray Russia... in favour of second-hand eagles."

That comment sparked a reaction from Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov who said such comments were "extremely unworthy, contrary to good manners and show… a lack of respect for Bulgarian institutions".

Mr Shalamanov told the BBC that reliance on outdated Soviet-era equipment, which still needs spare parts and maintenance in Russia, was the result of 10-15 years of mismanagement of the Bulgarian armed forces.

As a result, he said, in the current Nato standoff with Russia over its role in the conflict in Ukraine, Bulgaria was having to depend on its neighbours, Greece and Romania, to help police its own Black Sea borders.

Source

Clearly Bulgaria is still pissed how big brother Russia abandoned it during Second Balkan War 100 years ago.

Joking aside, it does make you wonder how East Europe become most anti-Russia front today, regardless Slavs or non-Slavs. Would Bulgaria's reaction signals a general attempt for East Europe to "de-Sovietize" its military and shift to more NATO standard?

[Adar]

Joking aside, it does make you wonder how East Europe become most anti-Russia front today, regardless Slavs or non-Slavs. Would Bulgaria's reaction signals a general attempt for East Europe to "de-Sovietize" its military and shift to more NATO standard?

I think it is more of a situation where nations feel that they need to chose sides while they still have room to maneuver.

What the Ukrainian conflict show is that there is a Russian sphere of influence that is guarded by Russia. Bulgaria have been opening itself up to the west while still retaining close ties to Russia which have been beneficial for many persons in leadership positions. But what we've seen in Ukraine is that countries who try to play on "both sides" are very likely to be ignored by the west if Russia decide to play hardball.

[Stavroforos]

I might be wrong, but I think there was an agreement between Greece and Bulgaria and Romania or Turkey where we're supposed to protect Bulgarian airspace or something. Don't remember if it's on a constant basis or just in case of emergency.

Anyway, this seems to be the typical story of any minor nation: try to get the most out of major powers, until you overplay your cards and end up getting shafted. In any case, it's good that all the former Axis states are now once again on Germany's side.

[Holger Danske]

I might be wrong, but I think there was an agreement between Greece and Bulgaria and Romania or Turkey where we're supposed to protect Bulgarian airspace or something. Don't remember if it's on a constant basis or just in case of emergency.

Anyway, this seems to be the typical story of any minor nation: try to get the most out of major powers, until you overplay your cards and end up getting shafted. In any case, it's good that all the former Axis states are now once again on Germany's side.

Yes because Comintern and Russia is so much better for them

[Stavroforos]

Yes because Comintern and Russia is so much better for them

Nothing's really good for them. The moment you're a minor nation, the best thing you can do is try and align yourself with the power that sucks less for you.

[justicar5]

Yes because Comintern and Russia is so much better for them

Comintern? That thing died decades ago.

[Odenat]

Bulgaria have much more serious issues to deal with, the decrease of population is one of them. If they do nothing, in 30 years, the population will decrease to 5.5 M from today's 8,5 M. 30 years ago, the population was 10 M.

[Principe Alessandro]

They really need to change all this equipment? It's not like they have an immediate treat.

[Sir Adrian]

They have Turkey right on their border - call us paranoid but nobody in the Balkans is falling for that again, NATO allies or no - and then there's Russia. Plus they have thier own imperial ambitions

Joking aside, it does make you wonder how East Europe become most anti-Russia front today, regardless Slavs or non-Slavs. Would Bulgaria's reaction signals a general attempt for East Europe to "de-Sovietize" its military and shift to more NATO standard?

It's no surprise considering how malignant Russian influence has been in the region in the past 4 centuries. Besides Russian military equipment in Eastern Europe genrally dates back to the 70s-80s so most of it is very outdated or in very poor condition (vehicles and airplanes mostly) and spare parts are increasingly hard to come by (except for Romania who makes rifles and light vehicles, and the Ukraine you can't really get it anywhere else)

[Stavroforos]

They have Turkey right on their border - call us paranoid but nobody in the Balkans is falling for that again, NATO allies or no - and then there's Russia. Plus they have thier own imperial ambitions




It's no surprise considering how malignant Russian influence has been in the region in the past 4 centuries. Besides Russian military equipment in Eastern Europe genrally dates back to the 70s-80s so most of it is very outdated or in very poor condition (vehicles and airplanes mostly) and spare parts are increasingly hard to come by (except for Romania who makes rifles and light vehicles, and the Ukraine you can't really get it anywhere else)

What disputes does Bulgaria have with Turkey? The only thing I can imagine is conflicting EEZ borders in the Black Sea for potential drilling, but most of the oil in the Black Sea seems to be in the northern area, belonging to Ukraine and Russia.

[Sir Adrian]

And the fairly large turkish minority in Bulgaria, various economic disputes which could flare up into diplomatic scandals and the latent irredentism in both countries, both claiming land from each other (though the Bulgarian far right claims far less than the Turkish far right). The past century has shown that when you have a neighbour with whom you've had less than peacefull relations throughout your history it pays to be on hand with a few weapons than to find yourself lacking them.

[Stavroforos]

And the fairly large turkish minority in Bulgaria, various economic disputes which could flare up into diplomatic scandals and the latent irredentism in both countries, both claiming land from each other (though the Bulgarian far right claims far less than the Turkish far right). The past century has shown that when you have a neighbour with whom you've had less than peacefull relations throughout your history it pays to be on hand with a few weapons than to find yourself lacking them.

Indeed, there's nothing that helps moving beyond such trivialities than pointing guns at each other.

[Heathen Hammer]

Implying that it doesn't have to do with financial interests of our military-industrial complex.

[Aru]

What is strange in NATO country abandoning the equipment of NATO adversary?

[Sir Adrian]

Tell that to Greece and the US.

[Lord of Nihilism]

Russian military equipment is reliable in every sense of the word, so i'm not exactly sure why they're concerned. Why do you think Russian weapons are used in countless wars and conflicts across the world from South America, to the Middle-East to SEA and to Africa? Now, this isn't saying that Russian weapons are better than French or Canadian firearms, but if you need cheap reliable military hardware then you can't go wrong buying Russian.

[Aru]

Russian military equipment is reliable in every sense of the word, so i'm not exactly sure why they're concerned.

Because by now it's at least 30 years old and poorly kept. They haven't bought anything new since fall of communism.

[Lord of Nihilism]

Because by now it's at least 30 years old and poorly kept. They haven't bought anything new since fall of communism.

So nice of you to keep the rest of my quote out. Did you read the part where I said that old Russian weapons are still being used to wage wars, genocides and conflicts across the globe? The ISIS in Syria and Iraq no doubt have large stockpiles of old Russian weapons that are being used to defeat the Iraqi Army(Supplied with modern vehicles and small arms by the US) and the elite units of Iraq(Kurds, Peshmerga and etc). There's an old saying that goes along the lines of "don't fix what isn't broken". Russian military equipment is cheap and lasts for ages and can be considered a wise investment. Eastern Europeans can't build cars, bridges and etc but they know how to make good military hardware that's cheap and effective.

[Aru]

Because I'm not disagreeing with you, nothing against Russian stuff. But it's old. Outdated and unkept. Sure, they can wage war with it probably better than they could with American stuff of that age and level of maintenance, but armies need to modernize constantly and it's time for Bulgarians to start modernizing.

Politics is what's preventing them from buying Russian again. As well that they're NATO and in case they end up with war with Russia, who will upgrade their stuff and provide spare parts?

[Lord of Nihilism]

You're going to have to clarify your stance a bit here. From what I can gather, you say Bulgaria needs to "modernise" their arsenal of military equipment since they're old, outdated and etc. The part where i'm confused is that despite that equipment being "outdated" and old, that very equipment is being used to successfully win battles against regimes and armies that are supplied modern weapons by the US. Why should Bulgaria get rid of perfectly fine weapons? If ISIS soldiers can kill professionally trained troops of the Iraqi Army and the elite units of Iraq, then why won't old Russian military equipment serve the Bulgarians well? Does Bulgaria plan to face off against the PLA, the French Army or the Canadian Army?

EDIT: I'm drinking tonight so spelling errors are likely and etc..