CLASSIFIED BULGARIAN ARMS EXPORT REPORT REVEALS

S E C R E T SOFIA 001033

SIPDIS


NOFORN

STATE FOR NP, PM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015
TAGS: ETTC BU
SUBJECT: CLASSIFIED BULGARIAN ARMS EXPORT REPORT REVEALS
SALES TO SENSITIVE AREAS


Classified By: AMBASSADOR JAMES PARDEW, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: In a classified government report passed
to us by a reputable NGO, the GOB summarizes the amounts and
locations of all authorized Bulgarian arms exports for the
period 2002-2003. The report has not been officially released
yet and remains secret even though EU regulations require
Bulgaria to make this information public. According to GOB
export control officials, the report was completed a year
ago, but the Bulgarian Council of Ministers has continually
postponed its publication. The report states that as late as
2003 Bulgaria was authorizing substantial arms sales to
sensitive countries like China, Guinea, Uganda, Yemen,
Azerbaijan Algeria, Rwanda, TOGO and Cote d'Ivoire. END
SUMMARY.


2. (S/NF) While the GOB has made important strides in arms
export controls in the past four years by improving its
regulatory framework and joining several international
nonproliferation regimes, this report shows that arms
manufacturers continue to successfully push for sales to
sensitive areas. The report discloses 894,000 EUR in
military exports to China during 2003. GOB contacts have told
us that the items sold to China were artillery-launched radio
jammers and not lethal military equipment. Other sensitive
sales include large unspecified arms exports to Yemen, Congo,
Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea. The latter being well known as a
transit zone for weapons going into U.S. and UN embargoed
Liberia.


3. (S/NF) The GOB authorized 90 million EUR in arms exports
in 2002 and 72 million EUR in 2003. Exports to India and
Algeria amounted to 75 percent of sales in both years. Most
of these weapons sales, 55 percent, were for ammunition of
various types; 26 percent were for weapons with a caliber of
12.7mm or smaller; and 11 percent were for bombs, torpedoes,
shells and rockets. The report given to us includes only the
summary, so no exact weapons systems details are given.


4. (S/NF) 2003 Bulgarian Weapons Exports
(top ten export areas - amounts in EUR)
India 25,466,491
Algeria 21,436,733
Russia 5,322,558
Cote d'Ivoire 4,660,573
USA 1,382,158
Afghanistan 1,329,869
Georgia 1,282,955
Poland 1,119,679
Iraq 1,024,262
China 893,661


5. (S/NF) 2002 Bulgarian Weapons Exports
(top ten export areas - amounts in EUR)
India 44,128,732
Algeria 16,129,857
USA 5,980,086
Cote d'Ivoire 5,216,873
Jordan 3,609,334
Yemen 2,798,856
Macedonia 1,538,697
Congo 1,464,657
Guinea 1,456,938
Azerbaijan 1,010,042


6. (S/NF) The report was passed to us by Philip Gounev from
the Sofia-based NGO "Center for the Study of Democracy"
(CSD). CSD is a well-respected and established NGO and Gounev
is one of their top arms control researchers. Gounev told us
he originally received the report from Zoya Dimitrova, a
locally prominent journalist who specializes in arms trade


investigations. We are convinced of the accuracy of the
report, and it corresponds with other information received
through intel channels.


7. (S/NF) COMMENT: Bulgaria has made impressive strides to
improve the legal structure of its export controls, however
the political and economic pressures to authorize arms sales
to its traditional clients in Africa and the Middle East
remain. The reluctance of the GOB to publicly release this
report indicates the lack of political will to make this
traditionally shady part of the Bulgarian economy transparent
once and for all. It also highlights the tension between
Bulgaria's political commitment to international arms control
regimes and the economic pressures to allow arms sales to
sensitive countries in the developing world.


8. (S/NF) A more detailed list of countries Bulgaria exported
arms to in 2002-2003 is available from Poloff Leon Lowder,
email: LowderLC@state.sgov.gov.