site.btaUPDATED Vazrazhdane Insists that Bulgaria Asserts Its Rights, Demand Apology from Sweden for Vezhen Case

The parliamentary group of the Euro-sceptic, nationalist Vazrazhdane party insists that Bulgarian institutions condemn the actions of the Swedish authorities regarding the detention of the Bulgarian bulk carrier Vezhen in connection with the January 26 Baltic Sea cable incident. "We demand that the Bulgarian state, represented by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, immediately condemn the pirate actions of the Swedish government and demand an apology. If what they claim has actually happened, the guilty parties will face the deserved punishment. But if it turns out that everything was completely unintentional, will the government of the Kingdom of Sweden offer an apology? Because something that is not requested is not given," stressed Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov in a declaration on behalf of the parliamentary group, speaking from the National Assembly rostrum.

On Monday, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said that it had launched a preliminary investigation on suspicion of sabotage under aggravating circumstances and had ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea, suspected of damaging an underwater optical cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland. In connection with the case, the Swedish Coast Guard detained the Bulgarian bulk carrier Vezhen in Sweden's exclusive economic zone on suspicion that one of the ship's anchors had been dragged across the seabed on the night to Monday, causing damage to the cable.

Kostadinov argued that, under international law, Bulgarian ships are considered part of Bulgarian territory. Therefore, when they are in international waters, rather than the territorial waters of another state, they are absolutely inviolable, and their seizure, in his words, constitutes an act of invasion of sovereign Bulgarian territory.

Kostadinov claimed that Vazrazhdane had information suggesting that the treatment of the Bulgarian crew "was extremely aggressive". "The ship was detained and forcibly taken to a Swedish port, and then a campaign against Bulgaria began," he added, without naming the source of this information.

"Meanwhile, while the Bulgarian state remains shamefully silent, we notice that some of our other allies are wasting no time and have started attacks against us. It was no other but the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who stated that the damaging of the cable in the Baltic Sea was the result of a scheme by Russia’s shadow fleet. Once again, our state remained silent. Similar statements were made by Latvian officials—again, a country that is our ally both in the EU and NATO," Kostadinov added.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Georg Georgiev told a news briefing that he has been informed by the Swedish Prosecution Authority that there have been no arrests and no indictments over the optic cable damage.

Also on Wednesday, Parliament approved a motion for a hearing on the case of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Transport, and the Chair of the State Agency for National Security. The motion was submitted by the parliamentary group of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria.

This is not the first time in which Vazrazhdane speak up for the crew of troubled Bulgarian ships. In 2022, commenting on the Maltese-flagged, Bulgarian-crewed bulk carrier Tzarevna, which was then trapped by the hostilities in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadinov argued that that the crew were "hostage to the carelessness of the Bulgarian government" which aids Ukraine but does not care about Bulgarian nationals there. Addressing the same case, journalist Petar Volgin (who later became a Member of the European Parliament from Vazrazhdane) said on Bulgarian National Radio that Ukrainian fighters from the Azov Battalion had detained the Tzarevna. His guest in the studio was Vazrazhdane leader Kostadinov. That same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the information spread by Volgin was false.