Bulgarian President Rumen Radev in a debate with Anastas Gerdzikov before the second round of the presidential election called Crimea "Russian," reports Korrespondent.

Thus, Gerdzhikov called the Crimea a Ukrainian territory regardless of what flag is flying over it. He also opposed the lifting of sanctions against Russia.

In response, Radev said that anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective.

"It is extremely important to have pragmatism in foreign policy. Sanctions against Russia look ineffective. We need a pragmatic policy toward Moscow. Not least, we must not forget that Russia is a very important factor in the fight against global terrorism," Radev said.

In response to Gerdzhikov's clarifying question about whose Crimea, Radev replied: "It is Russian now.

It should be noted that after the first round of the presidential election, Radev won 49.42% of the votes, while Gerdzikov won 22.83%.