Defense Minister: There is No Request to Increase the Bulgarian Contingent in Kosovo

"The situation in Kosovo is becoming tense, we are monitoring it carefully, we have organized round-the-clock duty in order to have timely received information and a reaction from our side that would be adequate to this situation. At the moment, there has been no request to the Bulgarian side to increase the Bulgarian contingent in KFOR". This was stated by the Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov, reported BGNES.

"All our servicemen are alive and well, they have no problem, they fulfill their functional duties, including in that part of the territory of Kosovo, where the problems arose," added Stoyanov.

He emphasized that Bulgaria has declared an operational reserve of one company. "We are ready to send this company within seven days, but so far we have not received such a request," he clarified.

Regarding the sites at Graf Ignatievo Airport, Stoyanov pointed out:

"Yesterday, two sites were opened on Graf Ignatievo. One site is a squadron operations center, an extremely important facility where the flight crew will be housed and absolutely all tasks related to flight activity are planned there. The second site is the SSF, where it will be a warehouse for classified equipment", he said and specified that without them the certification of the Graf Ignatievo Airport would not be able to pass and the F-16 aircraft would not be able to be accepted.

According to him, the initial tasks should have been started in 2016, but in reality, the first construction sites were opened in 2021.

"We are planning to finish the entire Graf Ignatievo airport in December 2024," he said and clarified that this is the schedule that the caretaker government has proposed and expressed hope that the...