General Philip Breedlove, NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, was on a two-day visit to Bulgaria ahead of the Third Annual Security Review Conference in Sofia. During the visit he met for talks with PM Boyko Borissov, Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev and Chief of Defense Staff Rumen Nikolov.

In a lecture at Bulgaria's Atlantic Club about NATO after the Wales Summit in September General Philip Breedlove accentuated the new challenges and threats to security in Europe and the Black Sea region linked to the volatile situation in the Middle East and Eastern Ukraine, as well as the need of armed forces modernization:

General Philip Breedlove appreciated highly the Alliance's partnership with Bulgaria and this country's involvement in NATO's multinational force in the Black Sea region.  

General Breedlove also said that the Alliance was worried over growing violence in Eastern Ukraine and the concentration of Russian troops and equipment on the border. He was explicit about Russia's direct interference in Ukraine.    

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, was explicit that international borders should be observed noting that the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine should not be based on the use of force. He added that the NATO leadership and many world leaders had repeatedly spoken against any military solution to the conflict in Ukraine and had favored a political one.

Debates on the topic continue today and tomorrow at the Third Annual Security Review Conference organized by the Sofia Security Forum and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Attendance includes Bulgarian and foreign analysts and experts in security, defense and international relations. The conference is focused on risks and challenges emerging from the crisis in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, terrorism, the refugee wave etc. A special highlight of the event is regional security in the Balkans and the Black Sea region, as well as Bulgaria's inputs in dealing with challenges.

English Daniela Konstantinova