russia is ready to escalate on the ground in Ukraine, also against NATO countries — Yordan Bozhilov

This opinion was expressed during the Second Black Sea Security Conference by Yordan Bozhilov, Founder and President of the Sofia Security Forum, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria (2022).

“Unfortunately, we miscalculated in russia. We had hope or that wishful thinking through economic ties, good cooperation, we can peace our deal with russia. Based on perceptions, actually, we demilitarized our armed forces. Budgets were going down for years, the very beginning of the russian aggression we found our storages empty or full with outdated equipment. And now it is very difficult to catch up. If you order the nuclear missiles right now, you have to wait for 3 years. Do we have this time? Of course, we do not. It is my perception. Again, russia is ready to escalate, russia is ready to escalate on the ground in Ukraine, also against NATO countries,” he said.

At the same time, Yordan Bozhilov expressed his vision of the necessary further actions.

“So how to deal with this situation? My only guess will be we as NATO should do more together, NATO should come closer to russia, and indeed show, I mean there should be credible deterrence, etc. This is in the first place. And of course, we need to give as much as possible to Ukraine.”

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