Bulgaria does not support the imposition of sanctions against Russian Patriarch Kirill, Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova told journalists before the meeting of the Foreign Policy Committee. According to her, they would be symbolic and would not be productive.
“The Bulgarian position is clear – we support sanctions against Russia that have an economic effect, do not harm the member states more than they harm the state waging the war and those that are not symbolic in nature, but economic,” she said.
“There are a number of elements that we do not support (in the new sanctions package). On the one hand, they are related to an energy line, so as to ensure the energy stability of the country. The other are the sanctions related to Russian Patriarch Kirill, which fall into the category of symbolic sanctions that have the potential to be counterproductive,” the minister pointed out.
According to her, sanctioning the head of the Russian Orthodox Church would give rise to anti-European propaganda in the direction of Europe interfering in church affairs.
The sanctions are intended to have economic consequences, so as to reach a situation in which continuing the war is not a good solution and to sit down at the negotiating table, the Foreign Minister recalled.
“I do not think that limiting the financial assets of the Russian Patriarch in certain banks will prevent his activities, whatever they may be,” Velislava Petrova pointed out.
Illustrative photo: pexels-oleg-moz-2161026297-37164998
