Russia Unable to Guarantee Safety of Bulgarian MiG-29s Repaired by Poland, Official Says

The Russian manufacturer of Bulgarian Air Force's MiG-29s would be unable to guarantee the flight safety of the multirole jet fighters if Poland becomes involved in their repair, a key Russian government official has said.

"Sofia's position is counterproductive" and contravenes the agreements for technical cooperation in the military area between Russia and Bulgaria, particularly with regard to the protection of intellectual property rights," Anatoly Punchuk, deputy director of Russia's Federal Service on Military-Technical Cooperation, has told sputniknews.com.

Bulgaria's government approved the agreement with Warsaw on the repair of the country's MiG-29s by aviation works in Poland on October 28. The agreement, which has drawn fire from Russia, has been submitted for ratification to Bulgaria's Parliament.

Punchuk's comments echoed an warning from the aircraft manufacturer that Russia will stop the maintenance of Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29s, if the government in Sofia signs a deal with Poland for the repair of their engines.

"If Bulgaria and Poland sign an agreement on the repair of the RD-33 engines powering the MiG jets, this will leave us no other choice but to give up on technical maintainance of the MiG-29 planes operated by the Bulgarian Air Force," Sergei Korotkov, Director General of the jets' Russian manufacturer MiG Corp., said last month.