site.btaPM Glavchev: There Will Be No Punishment for UN Representative Position on Srebrenica

There will be no punishment for the position of the UN representative from Bulgaria on Srebrenica, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev told journalists in Malko Tarnovo. His comment comes a week after leaked official documents showed an attempted change of the Bulgarian position in support of the UN resolution.

According to leaked documents published by Bird.bg and then other media outlets, a cable sent by Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev to Bulgaria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Lachezara Stoeva called for a last-minute change of Bulgaria's position ahead of the UN vote on the Srebrenica resolution. Stoeva allegedly ignored Glavchev's instructions, and Bulgaria supported the resolution, which it had co-authored. Quoting own sources, Bird.bg says the reversal in the government's position came after communication between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and former Bulgarian prime minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov.

Glavchev said that the published documents did not show the decision making process in its entirety and said it was "a criminal leak". The government called it "a hybrid attack".

“I think we've got this issue wrapped up. There may be a probe into the process of leaking documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then we will know if there will be any consequences”, the Prime Minister said on Monday. The position of the Bulgarian UN representative had not been commented with either President Rumen Radev or Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic, Glavchev added.

Asked why an hour before the vote there had been instructions sent for an abstention vote, he explained that this was part of the process.

In response to a question about who will represent Bulgaria at the NATO summit, the caretaker Prime Minister said there is no such decision yet. “The NATO summit in Washington is in mid-July. There is plenty of time before then, I hope the regular government will determine who will participate”, Glavchev added.