Some 350 U.S. Army officers will arrive in the Balkan country to take part in the bilateral drills, which begin on Sunday and will be conducted at the Novo Selo training range in southeastern Bulgaria.
The exercises will also involve U.S. armoured personnel carriers, helicopters and tanks.
"The Bulgarian Army will use the drills to test its ability to react in crisis situations," a defence ministry official told Reuters. "Of course, we cannot underestimate what is happening in Ukraine."
Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev said the United States would spend about $30 million to modernise the infrastructure at and around the training range of Novo Selo.
Bulgaria and other ex-communist countries in eastern Europe that are now inside NATO and the European Union have been rattled by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
On Tuesday, NATO's Black Sea members Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey joined four other alliance states - the United States, Canada, Germany and Italy - in a multi-national naval exercise in the Black Sea.
Bulgaria, a close ally of Moscow in communist times, joined NATO in 2004 and is one of six eastern European countries due to host new command units staffed with national and NATO soldiers being set up in response to the Ukraine crisis.
Reuters
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13/3/15
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Deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Crimea possible (Foreign Ministry)
US military unit heads to E. Europe for training
Latvia receives over 120 tanks, armored vehicles from US (video RT)
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Six NATO ships call at Romania's Black Sea port amid drills...
ReplyDeleteSix NATO war ships have called at Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta as part of military drills, the press service of the North Atlantic Alliance reported Friday.
The six NATO vessels have been in the Black Sea since March 4 on invitation from Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey for planned maneuvers. The group includes USS Vicksburg, four frigates - Turkey's Turgut Reis, Italy's Aliseo, Canada's Fredericton and Romania's Regina Maria, as well as Germany's Spessart auxiliary ship. US Vice-Admiral Brad Williamson is in charge of the group.
According to NATO’s press-service the drills are aimed at practising protection from air raids and from torpedo attacks by submarines.
NATO warships are obliged to meet the conditions of the Monroe doctrine not to stay in the Black Sea basin longer than 21 days. The water displacement of NATO warships staying in the Black Sea should not exceed 45,000 tons.....................http://tass.ru/en/world/782717
13/3/15