Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, seen as a supporter of Russia, is not planning to attend the NATO summit planned for July in Washington, his office said on Thursday.
It cited the move as due to the government's Ukraine policy.
Radev is refusing to lead the Bulgarian delegation at the NATO summit due to differences with the Bulgarian government over some of the country's positions at the summit, the presidential office's press office said.
Specifically, this concerns obligations that Bulgaria is taking on in the Ukraine war, the office said.
However, Radev strongly condemned Russia's aggression right from the very first day of the war, the statement said.
Radev's step comes after the Bulgarian government approved Bulgaria's framework positions for the NATO summit, set for July 9 to 11, on Wednesday, in a confidential document which was not initially made public.
Radev, a former general and fighter jet pilot who once led his country's air force, sees no military solution to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and has repeatedly criticized the Bulgarian government's military support for Kiev.
Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and occupied around a fifth of its neighbour's territory, including Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.