Bulgaria's PM blames Romania for provoking Russia

Radev stopped short of identifying Russia as the party responsible for the attacks, while implying that Bucharest’s accusations against Moscow had contributed to the escalation.

“I just want to mention the case of Romania. Romania came forward and said, ‘We have no evidence, but we know very well that Russia is responsible for these attacks and we condemn them categorically.’ What happened? Two ships, one of them just a few days ago, were hit and sunk in the most defiant way possible in Romanian territorial waters,” Radev said, according to Euronews Romania.

The Bulgarian prime minister also referred to his own position towards Moscow, claiming that he was the only head of government among Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey to have summoned the Russian ambassador to express his views, according to trud.bg, as quoted by Profit.ro.

“When I make accusations, I must have clear evidence before doing so. I cannot act on the basis of slogans,” Radev said.

The statements follow a series of maritime incidents in October off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria. According to information presented by the Bulgarian prime minister, eight commercial vessels were hit or involved in incidents associated with drone attacks in the Black Sea between October 5 and 23.