“Today, the region is facing its biggest crisis since the Cold War. No one, for any reason, imposes decisions on our security. Bulgaria is a sovereign country and security decisions are made by the National Assembly and the Council of Ministers. The security environment has changed. What is happening in Ukraine directly threatens our security.” This was stated by the Minister of Defense Stefan Yanev.

According to him, the trend of changing the balance in the Black Sea continues. “Our analyzes show serious deficits in our armed forces,” Yanev added.

“There are 5 priorities to focus on. The first is the people in defense. We need to attract people for the vacancies. Another priority is the modernization of the armed forces. We will renew the project of a fighting machine for the infantry. We will do everything to reach the defense capabilities worth 2% of the Gross Domestic Product until 2025”, added Stefan Yanev.

According to him, the goal is to make an analysis of the armed forces in order to increase their combat training and readiness. He pointed out that a battalion of a battle group would be created, which we do not have.

“When we talk about a deficit, we are talking about a NATO standard. For example, we lack artillery of a certain caliber for a battalion of the battle group. We will talk to US officials if they can participate. But this will be decided at another level,” said Stefan Yanev.

He explained that regarding the new 5 priorities, one of which is the thawing of the project for combat vehicles, there are several factors, such as how to continue the implementation through a competition or through a government-government contract.

/BNT

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