Nikolay Nenchev

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev reassured on Wednesday that no mobilisation was taking place in the country.

Nenchev also dismissed rumours that NATO had requested the participation of Bulgarian troops in operations due to the Ukrainian crisis.

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev announced that no legislative amendments are required for the hosting of the proposed NATO command centre in Sofia.

Nenchev said that there is no need for parliament to express its opinion on the future command centre, as this was required neither by the constitution nor by any other law.

The defence ministers of NATO member states are to gather at a one-day meeting on Thursday in Brussels, where they are expected to decide on the stationing of the proposed command centres on the Alliance's eastern flank.

The focus will be the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan, which had been approved at the NATO Wales Summit in September 2014.

The Bulgarian government proposed an amendment to the Defence Act, which would allow for the stationing of the proposed NATO command centre in the country.

The bill will provide an international organisation functioning on the country's territory with the legal right to supplement its personnel with Bulgarian troops and citizens, Darik radio reports.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev feels that there is a Russian propaganda center in Bulgaria attempting to create tension in the local and international communities over a possible war preparation.

Chairperson of Bulgaria's parliamentary Defence Committee Miho Mihov said on Sunday that the stationing of a NATO command centre in the country should not be interpreted as preparation for war.

Mihov also dismissed fears that this decision hinted of preparations by Russia for the waging of war on Bulgarian territory, airspace and naval space.

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev announced during parliamentary control on Friday that NATO is to station a command centre in the capital Sofia.

Nenchev dismissed the speculations that have arisen, following last week's visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, that the Aliance is to station a military base near the Bulgarian seaside town of Shabla.

Bulgaria might opt to send its old MiG-29s to Poland for refurbishment, a defense news website has suggested.

In a text on Bulgaria, Defense Industry Daily points to the fact that carrying out hardware updates of MiGs in Russia is "awkward" nowadays for Eastern Europe with NATO's moves in the region.

The Bulgarian Parliament rejected on Wednesday to include the proposal, which calls for limiting the extension of sanctions against Russia, for discussion in its weekly agenda.

The proposal of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) was first rejected by the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee on January 21, daily Dnevnik reports.

Bulgaria's Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and his Romanian counterpart Mircea Dusa on Tuesday discussed the creation of command and control elements that would be deployed in the two countries as part of NATO's Readiness Action Plan.