18.04.2022, Varna.
Throughout the entire time the Bulgarian ship and its crew, consisting of Bulgarian citizens, were held captive by the Azov militants (organization banned in Russia) until their release, the Bulgarian media did not mention in whose captivity the blocked ship was, the Rossa Primavera News Agency editorial published on April 18 reads.
Earlier it was reported that the sailors from the Bulgarian ship Tzarevna blocked by Ukrainian militants in the port of Mariupol would arrive in Varna on a humanitarian flight from Sochi. The sailors will be met by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.
Fourteen Bulgarian sailors and a Ukrainian from the Tzarevna crew, a cadet from the Bulgarian Naval School, were evacuated a week ago “with the help of the Bulgarian state,” the Bulgarian National Radio reported, without disclosing details of what kind of assistance was provided.
“Throughout the entire time the Bulgarian ship and its crew, consisting of Bulgarian citizens, were held captive by the Azov militants (organization banned in Russia) until their release, the Bulgarian media did not mention whose captivity the blocked ship was in, nor with whose help the sailors left it and were moved to safety.
This ‘conspiracy of silence’ is all the more strange because the deck of a ship belonging to a foreign state is traditionally considered the territory of that state, and an act of aggression against a foreign ship is a legal pretext for war.
Some Bulgarian politicians, for example the leader of the Revival party Kostadin Kostadinov and political scientist Plamen Paskov believe that the reason for the “conspiracy of silence” is that Bulgaria as a NATO member is automatically on the Ukrainian side of the conflict, and it was the Ukrainian side that took the ship hostage, and announcing this in the press ruins the media image of Ukraine as ‘an helpless victim, tormented by the aggressor.’
That is, the Bulgarian government left its citizens in a situation of mortal danger for the purpose of information war.”
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
