Brussels, November 19 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - A European Commission spokesperson told a news conference on Friday: "From the point of view of the EU and its 27 Member States, Crimea is Ukraine." He was answering a question referring to a comment Bulgarian President Rumen Radev made in a presidential debate on Bulgarian National Television on Thursday evening.
The European Commission declined to comment on Radev's statement, but recalled the European position on Crimea. "Crimea is Ukrainian territory that was illegally annexed in a violation of international law by Russia," said Peter Stano, Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. He added that this position has been very clear since 2014 and has been reinforced and repeated by the EU countless times since then.
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Ukraine's Foreign Ministry summoned the Bulgarian Ambassador in Kyiv on Friday after Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said the Crimean Peninsula was part of Russia after being annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Reuters reported earlier on Friday.
In a debate ahead of Bulgaria's run-off presidential vote on Sunday, Radev said Western sanctions against Moscow were not delivering the expected results and that the European Union should restore dialogue with Russia, no matter how strained relations were.
Reuters reported that Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it expected Radev to retract his comments, which it said jarred with "Sofia's official position in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state within its internationally recognized borders". RY/DD