Europe is readjusting to a completely new wave, to new tracks, and they are military tracks. And as dramatic as it is to admit it and accept it – yes, indeed, European economies and European politics must now develop, establish itself as a wartime economy and politics – something that, in truth, the Kremlin and Putin they did at least two years ago, when a full wartime regime of Russian industry was introduced, which means three-shift continuous work, which means remodeling, reworking, so to speak, some commercial establishments, including malls, for the production of military products, of drones most -already.

Elena Poptodorova – long-time ambassador to the USA and vice president of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria – commented on this in the „This is Bulgaria“ audiocast on „Focus“.

„This happened first in the area where Kalashnikov’s enterprises are located. So, for a long time, Russia has been completely at war with Europe.

What remains only for the Kremlin and Putin to do is an additional mobilization, because Russia also cannot cope, as events show, with the available combat power, but this mobilization will obviously be announced after the presidential elections in Russia.

But look, as we ask ourselves why we suddenly found ourselves, Europe, initially the NATO circle of countries, those 39 countries that also entered into agreements with Kiev for support, why we found ourselves following the events, a little behind.

Yes, of course, we are talking about two years of war in Ukraine, but I argue and it seems to me that we must necessarily remind ourselves that this is the hot, last phase of the war, which with its goals – denazification and demilitarization, announced by The Kremlin actually aims for the destruction of the state itself.

But this war started 10 years ago.

And I would like to always remind that – yes, we mark, we list the two-year anniversary of the actual war in Ukraine, but the war against Ukraine is actually 10 years old,“ added Poptodorova.

„And what has happened since 2014 after the seizure of Crimea, after those little green men who invaded Donetsk and Luhansk, what has happened in all these 10 years is that these actions have gone in parallel with a very heavy propaganda that was directed first of all, of course, to the Russian audience, but also to the external, to the world audience, to explain the reasons, supposed, imaginary, false I will say reasons, why these actions against Ukraine began.

So recalling these much earlier events, I mean that only now is Europe starting to catch up.

And especially in this situation that we are in right now, it is nothing less than the perfect storm, because to the war in Ukraine, very conveniently and not by chance, on October 7 of last year – Putin’s birthday, the attack of „Hamas“ was added against Israel, i.e. another front was opened.

Meanwhile, there are all these elections coming up, political elections.

They are in many places in the world, in more than 50 countries, but the most direct ones that concern us are the announced ones – in Russia, very disputed, still unclear – in America, and of course, the European elections in our country.

So it seems to me that we are already on a political front, not only on the military front that you are talking about, but also on a political front at the same time, on which Russian President Putin is betting precisely on division and wavering in the West, which to be able to aid him in a victory that he has yet to actually achieve on the battlefield.

And now what is happening and what you are talking about and announcing, of course, this is very, very explicit, very loud political support,“ she also commented.

According to Elena Poptodorova, the front has moved very strongly on the political line, but also the commitments with which the European governments help.

„Yes, this 54 billion European Union aid to Kyiv is being unblocked, or rather released, but at the same time, European governments have increased bilateral aid in recent months.

So we can say that as of now, European governments have either already provided or committed, promised more weapons to Kiev than Washington has at this point, and more than double the economic aid if we include it.

And that’s a very big difference, a very big change from the early days of the war, when you remember, we had much more evasive, much more tentative commitments. Yes, moral, political – yes, but remember how long it took to make decisions about military aid as well.

But what has happened in recent weeks, and especially, it seems to me, after the death of Navalny – it literally unleashed a new wave of support, but it is still not enough to reverse the trend in Ukraine. So – yes, military supplies, weapons are what Kiev needs most right now. It is,“ she explained.

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