The naval forces of Bulgaria, Romania and the USA had a joint training exercise in March, in international waters to the Southeast of Constanta, Romania. In the period 10 August – 12 September the Bulgarian and American air forces are carrying out another exercise, named Thracian Eagle. Right after its end, a Bulgarian special forces’ platoon will join the Rapid Trident international military training exercise in West Ukraine. Russia should have taken part in it as well, but now, in the context of the Ukrainian crisis it determines the event as a provocation. The truth is that all these maneuvers were planned before the crisis. It is also true that those are taking place despite this crisis too, in a really complicated situation within the Black Sea region. They cannot be viewed outside the context of NATO’s increasing presence within the area.

Bulgaria participates actively in that presence with more than one argument. Head of state and Supreme Commander of the armed forces Rosen Plevneliev alarmed some time ago that the Bulgarian air defense patrols had to perform many more flights due to Russian transport and reconnaissance planes over the Black Sea. Voicing to the society his suspicions on deliberate Russian provocations with the purpose of reducing the combat potential of Bulgaria’s MiG-29s, directly depending on it, the president insisted on “more NATO” for this country and the region. The government of ex-Premier Plamen Oresharski rejected the idea, but it is once again on the agenda with the current caretaker government. It is not a coincidence, for instance that the Thracian Eagle Bulgarian – American training exercise practiced air border guarding maneuvers, visual recognition and escort of planes.

The escalation of the Ukrainian crisis leads to escalation of the fears, related to it. Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov said for the BNR that there were threats for the territorial integrity of European countries, and such threats could not be excluded for Bulgaria as well. There has been such a threat for Georgia, there is one now for Ukraine, there is a frozen conflict in Moldova, in Nagorno-Karabakh, so direct threat for Bulgaria cannot be excluded at all, Mr. Shalamanov said, underlining that Sofia has its concerns not only about the Ukrainian events, but also about the hot spots in the region. That was why Bulgaria did support the Readiness Action Plan, adopted at the NATO summit in Wales last week. Even more, NATO was also requested to prepare a Defense Plan for Bulgaria and Romania, determining the commitments of the alliance in case of an attack against the two member-states. We can expect from now on the expansion of the Novo Selo military polygon for NATO exercises, an increased cooperation in the Black Sea, as well as joint operations, guaranteeing the air sovereignty of Bulgaria. We proposed in Wales the National Command Center in Varna to be turned into a one of NATO. It was also suggested the Novo Selo polygon to be operatively connected with similar military infrastructures in Romania, Poland and Germany. There are ideas on the creation of a national program, guaranteeing the funds needed from the national budget, in order for NATO money to be able to be added to those, as well as funding from the EU and countries that show solidarity with Bulgaria. However, it is all a process, far exceeding the term of the caretaker government, which will be developed by the new one, after the early elections on October 5.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev