Defence Minister Todor Tagarev said that Bulgaria would not deploy ships to the Red Sea or troops to Yemen, and that this had never been an option. He told reporters in Blagoevgrad the Bulgarian captain and first mate of the first hijacked ship, the Galaxy Leader, had not been released yet, although the rest of the sailors were freed. "Our task is to find a way to get them free. The Bulgarian vessel Ruen was hijacked with eight sailors on board, one was freed and we are seeking a solution. We are discussing various options," Tagarev said.
The government is discussing the best response in this situation, the Minister said. "We participate with staff officers, we could participate in some other ways within our abilities," he said, adding that here is no way Sofia can engage in such an operation without a National Assembly resolution.
Bulgaria, Romania and Turkiye are to sign an agreement on establishing a mine action group in the Black Sea, Tagarev said. This has been in the works since the end of last summer. "We have reached an agreement on the concept and the text of the agreement - how to settle all matters, and next week my deputy will be in Istanbul for the signing so that this mission will start soon. The war in Ukraine, started by Russia, entails risks to our territory and the security of navigation, and to minimize these risks, the navies of the three countries will clear mines."
Commenting on Bulgaria and Romania's joining Europe's open-borders Schengen Area by air and sea from March 2024, Tagarev said: "This is a very serious achievement of the government, which managed, in half a year, to secure the lifting of sanctions first by the Netherlands, which resisted Romania and Bulgaria's entry the most. We reached an agreement with the Netherlands and then achieved the lifting of the restrictions, albeit partially, with Austria."
The Defence Minister was in Blagoevgrad to welcome the servicemen who took part in NATO's Operational Reserve Force as part of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission KFOR and in the EU's Operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"This was a successfully accomplished mission of the Bulgarian Army. For almost four months, this company was deployed in Kosovo because there is tension in the Western Balkans. It had to reinforce the presence of Allied troops to stabilize the situation," the Defence Minister said. "The Bulgarian troops played their part in achieving this objective. We are glad they all returned safe and sound, without incidents during the mission."
/NZ/
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