On Monday, US Assistant Secretary of State Frank Rose in charge of arms control, verification and compliance, arrives to Sofia. In Bulgaria Frank Rose is coming following a trip to Romania in connection with the activation of NATO’s Missile Defense System (MDS) in the military base at Deveselu, as well as a trip to Poland – in connection with the construction of an analogous defense complex in the NATO base at Redzikowo. The deployment of MDS elements to Bulgaria has not been discussed since 2011 when Washington DC and Turkey agreed on such elements deployed in Turkey’s territory. Turkey though is dangerously close to Bulgaria in the event of exchange of missile strikes, and besides, Ankara has recently had quite tense relations with Moscow.

Ten days before Frank Rose’s visit to Bulgaria, on 5 and 6 May Sofia received US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. His talks with the government went over a wider range of issues but included elements of cooperation in defense, part of the portfolio of Frank Rose. The sides pointed to a 400% increase in Bulgarian-American military activities in the recent years, with a highlight on boosting joint capacity and co-operability.

The frequent shuttles of senior officials of the US State Department in the region are due to the preparation of the upcoming NATO summit due in Warsaw on July 8 and 9. Recently, talking to top military from the Balkan states, Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan stated that the Black Sea had become “A Russian lake” and that he planned to put the question in Warsaw of a NATO presence in the sea as a reaction to Russian military presence. Bulgaria is part of NATO’s southern flank, and this issue concerns her, like it or not. Whether it will be discussed during Frank Rose’s visit will become clear very soon.

English Daniela Konstantinova