What follows from Russia’s sanctions on arms companies from Bulgaria – Business
On Tuesday, it became known that Russia is imposing counter-sanctions in the military-technical cooperation of a total of 15 Bulgarian companies and almost 60 others. The largest sanctioned are Arsenal, VMZ, Dunarit, TEREM and Emko, 10 others are protected.
IN the message on the site it was explained to the Russian government that the companies were from the “enemy countries” that were sanctioning Russia because of the war in Ukraine. This list (which also includes Bulgaria) was prepared in the spring. “Dnevnik” sought comments from the state and business on what consequences they expect.
“We have had no commercial relations with Russia for many years – neither supplies, nor purchases, nor sales, I have no explanation for these sanctions,” said the owner of the EMKO arms holding and the Dunarit plant, Emilian Gebrev, to Dnevnik.
According to him, it is probably a matter of reciprocal actions on the part of Russia. “It is best to ask the foreign minister, or the defense minister, or the prime minister. But I doubt any minister can tell you the problem,” added Gebrev.
In response to questions from “Dnevnik”, the Ministry of Economy, under the departmental head of the interdepartmental commission for arms export control, announced that trade in defense products with the Russian Federation has been subject to bans since 2014, which are currently supplemented with financial sanctions against individuals and legal entities.
In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, which until then was on the territory of Ukraine.
“Given the fact that the prohibitions regarding commercial relations with the representatives of the defense industry have been in force since 2014, the amendment of the decree will not lead to a change,” stated a response to “Dnevnik” from the ministry, which does not expect any change for business of the said enterprises.
It is important to emphasize that, as a member of the low union, Bulgaria has supported all the packages of sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation after the start of the military aggression in Ukraine, the department also states. They remind that already on May 3, the President of Russia issued a decree with countermeasures.
The Decree of November 5, 2022 changes and adds the list of persons, among whom there are Bulgarian legal entities from the defense industry, specify from there.