The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine summoned the Ambassador of Bulgaria because of the President's words about the Russian Crimea Kostadina Kodzhabasheva after the words of President Rumen Radev that Crimea is Russian territory. This was reported by the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ukrainian side conveyed to the diplomat the position of the republic on the incorrectness and inadmissibility of the statements of the Bulgarian leader and demanded to refute the words about the ownership of Crimea.
The department indicated that such statements do not contribute to the development of good-neighborly relations between Ukraine and Bulgaria and are at odds with the official position of Sofia. It is noted that Kodzhabashev assured Bulgaria's unchanging position in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
On November 18, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who wants to be re-elected for a second term, at a debate with his main opponent Anastas Gerdzhikov called Crimea a Russian territory and announced the ineffectiveness of the anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union.
Crimea became part of Russia in March 2014 according to a referendum in which the majority of the region's residents supported such a decision. Ukraine, the countries of the European Union and the United States decided not to recognize the results of the vote.