Bulgaria Ready to Allow Putin’s Plane to Pass Through Its Airspace for Possible Meeting with Trump and Zelensky in Budapest

Bulgaria has indicated its readiness to permit Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plane to fly through its airspace for a potential meeting with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Budapest. This was confirmed by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev in a statement to BNT during his participation in a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on October 20.

Minister Georgiev stated that the first step must be to schedule the meeting between the presidents of Russia, the United States and Ukraine, after which the details can be discussed. However, if holding such a meeting is a condition for achieving peace, it is only logical that it should be supported. According to him, the meeting cannot take place if one of the participants is unable to attend.

Bulgaria and the European Union, he noted, view the potential meeting with hope, as Ukraine’s future should not be decided without Ukraine itself. He reaffirmed that Bulgaria will continue to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Georg Georgiev, Minister of Foreign Affairs:
“Look, when efforts are being made to achieve peace, if the condition for that is to hold such a meeting, then the most logical step is for it to be facilitated by all possible means. How can a meeting take place if one of the participants cannot reach it?”

During the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, announced that the 19th package of sanctions against Russia is expected to be approved by the end of the week. She stressed that this would not be the final round of sanctions, noting there is strong support among member states for the use of frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine.

EU foreign ministers also requested that the European Commission propose additional measures to strengthen Ukraine’s energy security, as well as tougher action against what Kallas described as “Putin’s shadow fleet.”

Following the elections in the Republic of North Macedonia yesterday, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev expressed hope that Bulgarians will be included in the country’s Constitution as a first step towards the start of EU accession negotiations.

Georg Georgiev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria:
“Unfortunately, one of the less pleasant aspects of elections is that they tend to bring to the surface certain thoughts and words from politicians that they may later regret. However, we have always said that our domestic political challenges should not be made hostages of European policy or international relations.

In this sense, I hope that now the elections in the Republic of North Macedonia are over, tensions will subside and the government will be able to focus on fulfilling the commitments it undertook in 2022 as part of the European consensus. Bulgaria has not changed its position, nor does it have any reason to do so.”