At the Euronews summit on defense and space, The Moscow Times reports that Radev called on Europe to reconsider the balance of military, economic, and diplomatic tools and give priority to diplomacy in relations with Russia. He warned that without this, the situation could lead to a Russian nuclear strike.
Radev said that Europe has not yet exhausted the possibilities of diplomacy and must act and speak much more actively. According to him, the continent must take into account the worst-case scenario when trying to achieve a conventional victory over the largest nuclear power.
According to Radev, Moscow has a “nuclear trump card” that Russia may try to play if it finds itself weakened or cornered. He stressed that one cannot turn a blind eye to Russia’s nuclear weapons and nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
Separately, Radev criticized arms supplies to Kyiv and called them a failed strategy of “peace through strength”. He said that the final architecture of peace will be shaped by diplomacy, not by weapons deliveries, so channels of communication need to be expanded.
He also recalled that in July he said that Bulgaria was no longer participating in the coalition insisting on the continuation of financial and military aid to Ukraine. Two weeks ago, Sergey Lavrov said that in the event of a direct war against Europe, Russia would quickly deal with the enemy, and Radev spoke critically about such a manner of making statements, calling on European leaders to think about the consequences of further escalation.
In the same context, Radev referred to warnings from Russian embassies in several European countries about the Kaliningrad region. According to these embassies, any aggression against the region will meet the strongest possible response, including the use of nuclear weapons.
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