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Rumen Radev: Diplomacy Should Not Become an Instrument of the International Relations We Have Forgotten about

At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum the Bulgarian Head of State reiterates that diplomacy is most effective when it is applied before bombs and prevents them

Diplomacy should not become one of the instruments of the international relations that we have forgotten about. This is what Head of State Rumen Radev called for when participating in a leadership panel dedicated to promoting diplomacy in times of crises at the third edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. President Radev participates in the event at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Rumen Radev noted that Russian Federation's war against Ukraine and the military operations between the State of Israel and Hamas raise the question of how effectively diplomacy was used as a means to avert war. Diplomacy is most effective when it is applied before the bombs and prevents them, not when it comes after the casualties and destruction, Rumen Radev stressed.

The Head of State called on the global community to be clearly aware of the dangerous consequences of underestimating the risk of further expansion of the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine and the involvement of new countries in it. The President recalled that both he and a number of other statesmen in Europe and around the world had condemned the aggression and called for the cessation of hostilities between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the very first day of this war, but this had not happened. Two years after hostilities began, the policy pursued of imposing sanctions on Russia and sending weapons to Ukraine is not having the desired effect of ending the war and is increasingly raising the question of the absent role of diplomacy.

The ongoing military conflicts also raise the question of the ability of international organisations, including the UN, which are called upon to guarantee world peace and security, to react in a timely manner and, above all, to prevent such crises, the President further said. The role of diplomacy is also essential in the current phase of a war of attrition between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which is now affecting not only the two countries involved in it, but also the countries of the adjacent regions, the President further stressed.

The global community must choose whether it can afford to continue sending more and more weapons because there have already been calls for sending people and this means a global clash or it is time to reconsider the approaches and strategies followed to open the way for diplomacy, President Rumen Radev further said. The Head of State also stressed that the great challenge facing the global community today is how to achieve a peaceful solution to the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine precisely through the means of diplomacy.