Bulgaria to Host NATO Base on its Territory

Bulgaria's Ministry of Defence has decided to build a military base for the North Atlantic Alliance on its territory. The total cost of the project will be 53 million euros. 

This was reported by BTA with reference to the Minister of Defence of Bulgaria Todor Tagarev.

For the construction of the base, Bulgaria plans to build specialized infrastructure, including barracks, warehouses for equipment storage, and roads. According to Tagarev, the facility will resemble a "small town."

The Minister noted that Bulgaria plans to use its own resources for the project's implementation and also intends to secure part of the necessary resources from the North Atlantic Alliance.

It is expected that the base will be ready by 2025. Initially, NATO planned to locate the base in the Yambol region in the southeastern part of Bulgaria, but the country's authorities have not yet made a final decision on the location.

The main part of the NATO contingent, consisting of NATO officers, will arrive in Bulgaria from Italy. The combat group is expected to perform defensive functions. Currently, there are already about 1000 military personnel on the territory of Bulgaria who serve at the U.S. base in Novo Selo. According to the Bulgarian Minister of Defense Tagarev, the number of this contingent may increase to 1500 individuals.

It is worth noting that Bulgaria had previously not supported the deployment of NATO military bases on its territory, partly due to potential negative reactions from Russia.

Additionally, in July of this year, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stated that in his opinion, NATO should abandon the act on the Alliance's relations with Russia from 1997. This document prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons and substantial military forces on a permanent basis in the territories of new Bloc members. The Lithuanian leader also called for the placement of more NATO troops in his country.

"When Russia takes active steps regarding the placement of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, we must finally declare that the Russia-NATO Founding Act is dead," Nauseda said.

Furthermore, in response to Russia's deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that his country wishes to join the nuclear sharing program among NATO countries, which involves providing nuclear warheads to member countries that do not possess such weapons.