Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgy Georgiev has found himself at the center of public ridicule and political backlash after prematurely declaring that Bulgaria would grant Russian President Vladimir Putin permission to use Bulgarian airspace en route to a planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Budapest. The problem: the meeting is no longer happening.

Further reading: Trump-Putin Summit Collapses: Budapest Talks Abruptly Put on Hold

During a Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg on October 20, Georgiev told his European counterparts that Sofia would provide an air corridor for the Russian leader “if requested.” He presented the offer as a simple matter of logistics: “How else can there be a meeting if one of the participants cannot come,” he reportedly said. But less than 24 hours later, the White House confirmed that no such summit was imminent. A senior official stated there were “no plans” for Trump and Putin to meet in the immediate future, adding that the recent call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was “productive” enough that no in-person talks were necessary for now.

Further reading: Bulgaria Signals Readiness to Open Airspace for Putin Ahead of Trump Meeting in Budapest

The sudden reversal has left Georgiev looking both uninformed and overeager - an embarrassing display for Bulgaria’s top diplomat at a time when credibility and alignment with Western partners are under close scrutiny. His statement, issued without any formal request from Moscow or confirmation from Washington, now appears not only clumsy but politically damaging.

The incident has drawn biting commentary at home. MP Yavor Bozhankov of the pro-Western WCC-DB alliance mocked Georgiev’s rashness on social media, writing that “giving Putin a way through Bulgaria before he even asks is like deciding the Speaker of the National Assembly should rotate - it never ends well.” Political commentator Manol Glishev went much further, labeling the Foreign Minister a “traitor” in a furious Facebook post. Glishev recalled knowing Georgiev from the days when he was still a young member of GERB’s youth wing, calling him “a naive boy who once kissed Borisov’s hand” and now “offers an air corridor to a murderer and dictator.” He compared Georgiev’s gesture to the policies of pro-Russian leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, calling it “a betrayal of Europe, Bulgaria, Ukraine and humanity.”

Glishev also invoked history, noting that in 1999, then-Prime Minister Ivan Kostov refused to allow Russian military aircraft to cross Bulgarian territory during the Kosovo crisis: a decision widely seen as a reaffirmation of Bulgaria’s Western orientation. “Today,” he wrote, “the GERB government acts like Russia’s servants.”

The online backlash has been intense. Belarusian outlet NEXTA mocked Georgiev’s justification, posting his quote: “How else can there be a meeting if one of the participants cannot come?” and responding sarcastically, “Should we help Georgiev understand?” Comments under the post quickly divided between those defending Russia’s right to travel freely and those accusing Bulgaria of legitimizing a leader wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

This diplomatic blunder has quickly turned into a national embarrassment. For a foreign minister to announce approval of a presidential flight corridor before any formal request or confirmation of a meeting is not just amateurish - it undermines the credibility of Bulgaria’s diplomacy. In the context of Bulgaria’s EU and NATO commitments, such behavior risks being read as a signal of weakness or misplaced loyalty.

Georgiev’s readiness to accommodate Putin, when even Hungary’s Orban had not yet finalized the logistics of the now-suspended summit, shows a troubling lack of judgment. As critics have pointed out, the role of a foreign minister is to protect national dignity, not offer gestures of goodwill to a foreign leader accused of war crimes.

In light of this fiasco, questions about Georgiev’s competence are unavoidable. His misstep has made Bulgaria the butt of international jokes, and his standing among European colleagues has been weakened. For many, this incident alone is reason enough for him to consider resignation - not out of political rivalry, but out of respect for the office he holds and the damage already done to Bulgaria’s reputation.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Novinite.com.