Georgi Panayotov

The refugee centres in Bulgaria  still have available capacity, but are filling up quickly. This was announced by Defense Minister Georgi Panayotov, referring to the information he has from the Advisory Council on National Security under the President He admitted that if the refugee wave escalates - new centres may need to be opened, but that has not yet happened.

The military pilot Valentin Terziev, who died during exercise with his MiG-29 fighter, was posthumously promoted to the rank of "lieutenant colonel", Ministry of Defense announced.

By order of the Minister. Terziev was awarded the Order of St. George First Degree for officers.

The data from the black box of the fallen MiG-29 has not been downloaded yet, because the ribbon cable is broken, which can cause data loss if an attempt is made to download information.

The flight recorder of a Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29 jet fighter, which crashed in the Black Sea on June 9, has been recovered from a depth of 70 metres with the help of equipment provided by a private company, caretaker Defence Minister Georgi Panayotov said in Stara Zagora (Southeastern Bulgaria) on Thursday. 

The black box of the MiG-29 which crashed in the Black Sea two weeks ago has been found, Nova TV reports.

The pilot, Valentin Terziev died in the accident that happened during an exercise.

He was pronounced dead the day after the fighter crashed. The search for the black box of the fighter was stopped for several days last week due to bad weather conditions.

Georgi Panayotov, Minister of Defence in Bulgaria's caretaker government, had a video conference with Mara Karlin, US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs, Panayotov's ministry reported on Tuesday.
They discussed bilateral defence cooperation and reaffirmed its strategic nature.

Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, will pay a visit to Sofia before June 20th. This is what Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and PM Zaev agreed in Brussels.

We are checking what could have gone wrong to lead to the MiG-29 crash. Hypotheses - as much as you want, speculation - as much as you want. It is clear that something sudden and unexpected has happened, what is it that the ongoing investigation should show, the Minister of Defense Georgi Panayotov told BNT today.

The life jacket of the pilot of the lost fighter was found in the sea today at about 10 o'clock, BNT reported.

The search for him continues. It involves forces and assets from the Navy, the Joint Special Operations Command, the Border Police and the Air Force.

A MiG aircraft has crashed into the sea off Shabla during the Shabla 2021 military exercises, confirmed for BNR Rear Admiral Kiril Mihaylov, Commander of the Navy.