Joint press conference

Thank you so much Prime Minister Glavchev. Dear Dimitar, it’s great to see you again. It’s great to be back in Sofia.

And it was great to attend the NATO Parliamentary Assembly this morning.
Perhaps the biggest assembly of parliamentarians representing democratic nations in the world.
32 NATO Allies and many partners.
So thank you also for hosting the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Bulgaria is a valued and reliable NATO Ally. We appreciate very much what Bulgaria is doing and has done for 20 years to enhance our collective defence, to strengthen our shared security.

For 20 years you have played a critical role in maintaining the security of the Black Sea, the Western Balkans and beyond.

You host one of NATO’s eight multinational battlegroups, 
helping to deter Russian aggression on the Alliance’s eastern flank.

Your troops play an important role in our KFOR peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
And you contribute to NATO’s training mission in Iraq.

Last year, Bulgaria increased defence spending by nearly 20%. And this year, you will meet the guideline of spending 2% of GDP on defence.
We appreciate that very much and it confirms that Bulgaria is a reliable member of the Alliance that helps to strengthen our collective defence.

Today we discussed the preparations for the Summit of NATO in Washington in July.

At the Summit, we will strengthen our deterrence and defence for a more dangerous world.

We will strengthen our support to Ukraine - both now and for the future

And we will strengthen our partnerships around the world.

As I said today at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly: we can never take our freedom or security for granted.
That is why, across the Alliance, we are ramping up the production of weapons and ammunition.

That is why NATO is bolstering its response to Russia’s hostile actions which target our critical infrastructure and democratic processes. 

And why we are planning for NATO to play a greater role in coordinating security assistance and training for Ukraine.

In recent weeks, Allies have made major new pledges of support for Ukraine.
And these pledges will make a difference. 

But they will not be enough unless we sustain them. 
All Allies must dig deeper.

Our world faces increasing threats but NATO is stronger and more prepared.

So Prime Minister Glavchev, dear Dimitar, thank you again for your welcoming me here in Sofia.

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Irina Tsoneva, Bulgarian National Television [interpreted from Bulgarian]
Irina Tsoneva - Bulgarian National Television. Secretary General. Prime Minister. You stressed in the session that it is necessary that the entire Alliance speeds up and increases its support. Did you request this from Bulgaria too? And Mr Glavchev - did you agree to increase your support? Were we asked to increase our support for Ukraine? Thank you.

Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Dimitar Glavchev [interpreted from Bulgarian]
At the end of our talk, Mr Stoltenberg said that we have to step up the assistance for the Ukraine as the whole Alliance and [inaudible] presented what we have done so far. And I believe that the Secretary General is happy with what we have done so far, but he stressed that he's happy with the achievement of Bulgaria and within the Alliance we have to step up from us. He didn't request any widening of the assistance that we have, other than the production and we can do that. Any support to Ukraine has to go through the National Assembly with a resolution of the parliament and it is not our prerogative to commit ourselves because we are a caretaker government.

NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg
Well Bulgaria, as other NATO Allies, have provided unprecedented support for Ukraine. And this has made a huge difference. We have to remember that when this war started back in February 2022, most experts feared that Russia was going to take control over Ukraine within weeks. That didn't happen. The Ukrainians have been able to liberate roughly 50% of the territory that Russia occupied at the beginning of the war and they have been able to inflict heavy losses on the Russian invaders. Having said that, we need to do more, because the reality is that what we have done so far is not enough. And we are also seeing some gaps in supplies of support. So therefore, I urge all Allies - also Bulgaria - to do more, and not least to sustain and make our support even more coordinated and more predictable.

And that's also reason why I have supported or I have proposed a bigger NATO role in coordinating security assistance and training for Ukraine. And I expect that when we meet in Washington, NATO Allies will agree a stronger NATO coordinating role in providing support to Ukraine because that will provide us with more accountability. It will provide more predictability in the support for Ukraine, and it will provide a platform to ensure a high level of burden-sharing among NATO Allies. So we welcome, appreciate everything Bulgaria has done, but we call on Allies – and I expect Allies to agree - a stronger, institutionalised framework for our support, and also a financial pledge. I suggested them a multi-year financial pledge to ensure that we can finance, for the long haul, our support to Ukraine.

Let me just add one more thing, and that is that we have to remember that we do this in solidarity with Ukraine. But we support Ukraine not only because it will be a tragedy for Ukraine if President Putin prevails and wins and takes control of Ukraine. It will also be dangerous for us. Because then the message to President Putin and to other authoritarian leaders is that when they violate international law, when they invade another country, they achieve what they want. And that will make the world even more dangerous. So it's in our security interest to support Ukraine and ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation. And therefore I expect the NATO leaders to agree a stronger NATO role for the support to Ukraine, and that's also why I suggested a strong financial pledge, multi-year financial pledge for Ukraine in the coming years.

Christina Nalbantova, BTV [interpreted from Bulgarian]
Christina Nalbantova, BTV. Mr Stoltenberg, regarding the restrictions of Ukrainians using Western ammunitions on Russian territory and thinking of what Prime Minister Glavchev said about not fueling the conflict, what is the expectation? What will NATO decide?

NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg
First I think it is important to remember what this is. This is a war of aggression. Russia has attacked, invaded another country, violating international law, killing civilians and occupying parts of Ukrainian territory. Violating internationally recognised borders - borders which also Russia originally recognised. So the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law. According to international law, Ukraine has the right to defend itself. Self-defence is enshrined in the UN Charter, self-defence is enshrined in international law. So Ukraine has the right to defend themselves against Russian aggression. We have the right as NATO Allies to help Ukraine uphold the right of self-defence. And that's exactly what NATO Allies have done by providing military support to Ukraine. That does not make NATO or NATO Allies party to the conflict. We provide Ukraine with support, but we don't send in NATO troops, NATO capabilities to take part in the conflict, neither on land or in the airspace over Ukraine.

Then it's for Allies to decide on restrictions on the weapons they deliver to Ukraine. That's not a NATO decision, it’s a decision made by individual Allies. Individual Allies have made different decisions. Some Allies have no restrictions, other Allies have imposed different restrictions. My message is that I think the time has come to consider some of these restrictions. Because we need to remember that Ukraine has the right for self-defence, they are defending their land, their territory. And, according to international law, the right for self-defence includes the right to strike legitimate military targets outside Ukraine. That's part of self-defence. And we see this very clearly demonstrated now in the fighting in Kharkiv, because they're actually, the Russian forces are on Russian territory, attacking just over the border, Ukrainian territory. The frontline is more or less the border line and if you cannot attack the Russian forces on the other side of the front line, because they're on the other side of the border, then of course you really reduce the ability of Ukrainian forces to defend themselves. Because then the Russians can just shoot without being attacked back.

And some Allies have lifted restrictions, other Allies have not. My message is that I think we should now consider those restrictions, because by having too many restrictions, we are tying one hand of the Ukrainian armed forces on their back because they're losing their capability to defend themselves. But again, these are national decisions, no NATO decision on restrictions, and there are different restrictions on different types of weapons. So not saying that there are going to be absolutely no restrictions in the future, but I'm saying that we need to consider those national restrictions, especially in light of the nature of the fighting now taking place in Kharkiv region where the Russians can be protected by the national border, which is more or less the same as the frontline.

Bulgaria National Radio [interpreted from Bulgarian]
Bulgaria National Radio. Gentlemen, what did you talk about? Allied air defence, rocket complexes along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast?

NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg
Well, as you know, we have increased NATO presence in the Black Sea region. We have air policing, we have battle groups, also now in Romania and Bulgaria and of course this increases - we also increased our vigilance. We have more reconnaissance capabilities and all of this helps us to monitor, follow closer, what Russia does, and also to be able to respond if we see any increased threat levels. We don't see any imminent threat of an armed attack against any NATO Ally. But of course with a war going on in Ukraine, with all the instability in the Black Sea, it has been necessary to increase our vigilance to increase our presence and both on land, but also in the air, to ensure that we are able to react if there is a need to further step up our presence.

Part of what we're doing now as NATO is to invest more in integrated air and missile defence to increase our ability to quickly reinforce, to deploy necessary capabilities. And of course, we will be very vigilant and continue to monitor the situation in the Black Sea, including in Bulgaria and I welcome that we have now a battlegroup in Bulgaria. Let me just once again stress that what we do when it comes to support to Ukraine, that doesn't make NATO Allies party to the conflict. NATO fundamentally has two tasks when it comes to Ukraine. One is to support Ukraine - and we provide support - and the other is to prevent this conflict from escalating beyond Ukraine. We don't want a full-scale conflict between Russia and NATO. NATO doesn't seek conflict with Russia. And the fact that we are supporting Ukraine doesn't make NATO and NATO Allies, a party to the conflict. And therefore, we have no plans of deploying NATO troops into Ukraine or send NATO air capabilities into Ukrainian airspace, but we are providing critical support to Ukraine so they can defend themselves.