site.btaVazrazhdane Puts Out Declaration on Bulgaria's NATO Membership

"The Bulgarian army was ruined, it was completely disarmed," said Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov in a statement on behalf of the parliamentary group. In his words, for the last 20 years, since Bulgaria has been in NATO, its numerical strength and composition had decreased by three quarters. “Down from 45,000 to 15,000, it currently exists only as a fiction,” he said.  

In his words, Bulgaria has joined a system that had already "exhausted the raison d'etre of its original creation and has started looking for excuses for its existence, inventing threats". 

Kostadinov believes that Bulgaria’s NATO allies have taken the technical documentation of the production and have let Bulgaria to destroy the defence production facilities. This is not a way to treat partners, but defeated enemies, Kostadinov said.  

“Our so-called partners tried to clear competition on the market for armoured vehicles,” Kostadinov said, adding that Bulgaria has not been allowed to develop even research and development in the field of military technology and defence. The research institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences had been closed down.  

"NATO wants to wage war but has no potential," the MP said. In his words, "the Alliance is the biggest threat to Bulgarian national security". Kostadinov said that "now is the time to leave NATO".