Velizar Shalamanov

In two years, Bulgaria sent over $1 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine. This happened through intermediary countries, including the USA, Great Britain and Poland. This was reported to Euractiv by their sources.

The United States has postponed the delivery of the 8 F-16 planes, which have already been paid for by Bulgaria, by two years, as it fears leaks of secret data about the planes to Russia. This is what "Euroactiv" reports, referring to the opinion of two former Bulgarian defense ministers.

"Russia aims to invoke division and point out that there are difficulties in consolidating Bulgaria's position. And thus to exert political pressure on Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said authorities are planning to develop a national strategy to counter acts of hybrid warfare.

Nenchev has noted the Bulgarian state institutions are taking increasingly seriously cyber crimes and will include tough measures against them in their strategy.

The cabinet approved on Wednesday a draft document to upgrade the Bulgarian Armed Forces' capabilities.

A statement by the government reads that the so-called Program for Development of Defense Capabilities of the Bulgarian Armed Forces 2020 will be submitted to Parliament for consideration.

Iliya Nalbantov, who has worked as Chief of Staff with the Defense Minister in the past year, has been dismissed, reports suggest.

No reasons have yet been pointed, according to BGNES news agency.

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov warned of risk of "import of terrorists" from Iraq and Syria in an interview for the Darik national radio.

Nikolay Nenchev, who took over as Bulgaria's Defense Minister on Friday, said he had observed many instances of wrongdoings at his institution.

On Sunday he voiced his concerns that, according to estimates he has been made familiar with, about BGN 2 B have been drained out "somewhere" within ten years.

A Bulgarian man died in Pakistan while fighting on the Islamist insurgent group Haqqani network in 2013, an investigation of a leading Bulgarian channel shows.

The man known as "Anis the Bulgarian" was killed by a drone, according to private national channel bTV which carried out the investigation together with Vladimir Chukov, an expert in Arabic studies.

Bulgaria's interim Defence Minister Velizar Shalamanov will ask for a meeting of the governmental Security Council to discuss the information of Bulgarian citizens reportedly involved with the Islamic State (IS), reports the Nova TV national channel.