Bulgaria's Atlantic Club Chairman Solomon Passy has reiterated that, though no-one wants a military conflict with Russia, the country has to be restrained in its "aggression".

In an interview shortly after NATO's Thursday decision to set up a total of six command centers across Eastern Europe, including one in Bulgaria, Passy has told public broadcaster BNT that cyberdefense will be among the main tasks to be taken up by the new facilities.

"There will be no tanks and weapons, but well-educated military officials with tablets and computers," he has pointed out, in a reference to recent criticism over the decision to build a compound here.

In his words, the new command center in Bulgaria will also create about 40 jobs, twenty of which will be for Bulgarians and the other twenty will be for the remaining five countries taking part (Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia).

"Building military infrastructure does not make you a target. You build it because you have already become one... This is like not putting up a fence around your vineyard lest someone jumps over it."

This is a strong signal for Russia that "we saw what happened in Ukraine and will not allow this to happen in the rest of Europe," Passy believes.

"In this case the ancient saying is valid that if you want peace, you must prepare for war."