''There is no conflict between me and President Rumen Radev regarding the modernisation of the armed forces and the fighters. This is what Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov told journalists following the sitting of Consultative Council of National Security'', according to FOCUS News Agency reported.

“On this topic, it is obvious and clear, I am even an officer and have graduated such a school. I could argue a lot about who the mother or queen of battle is. That is the infantry,” the PM said, noting that all military doctrines said that no war was ever won where the infantry has not passed.

“I am not cancelling anything. 2024 is the deadline before which a 2% of the GDP needs to be achieved. Apart from that, these are trade negotiations, whether it is tanks, whether it is transporters, whether it is ships, it does not matter. The firms producing them around the world are in a few countries. They profit a lot from them. There are countries which achieved up to 15-20 years of delays of instalments for a certain airplane, ship, or machine. We have no dispute with the president about needing new planes, tanks, and everything else,” Borisov said.

According to him, the decision was coming at the Council of Ministers, and negotiations had to be held. “The only task which they will receive from me is to make it so that, in the next 15-20 years of instalments, to pay them,” Borisov commented.

According to the PM, in doing so not only the planes could be modernised, but also the land troops and fleets. “If you go to the navy, you will see that a special concrete covers the bottoms of the ships, so that they do not sink. All types of troops have a need,” Boyko Borisov added.

The PM explained that he and the president completely agreed on the matter. He noted that he was not saying for the fighters to be put first, but the three types of troops simultaneously, and for it to be delayed at smaller instalments for a longer period of time. “An attempt to find confrontation could be sought, but we argue on different types of troops,” Boyko Borisov said.