Nikolay Nenchev

Bulgaria is strongly concerned by the instability in the Middle East and tensions in the Black Sea region and is doing its best to cope with the influx of refugees which could increase, Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev said on Thursday following talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Sofia.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is due to meet with top Bulgarian officials on Thursday in what a spokesperson for the alliance has described as a visit without any specific occasion.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is due in Bulgaria on Thursday, January 22, the alliance's press office has confirmed.

It was previously reported that Stoltenberg would visit the country in end-January, but not specific date had been set.

Bulgaria will continue building the fence along its border witn Turkey meant to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, the government has decided.

The Interior Ministry should draft an engineering project and set a timeline for its implementation by 30 January, according to an action plan approved by the cabinet on Wednesday.

Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said that the army would be inefficient in operations involving guarding the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

In a Friday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Nenchev commented on the proposal for joint patrols of the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry at the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

The problem with migration is Bulgaria is systemic, not sporadic, according to Gen Miho Mihov, Chair of the parliamentary defense committee and MP from the ABV Movement (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival).

In a Monday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Gen Mihov claimed that there was no enduring continuity in the country?s security and defense policy.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has attended a memorial service for the 5 Bulgarian rangers killed in Kerbala, Iraq.

The memorial service was held at St-Nicholas's Church in Pleven, according to reports of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

A co-leader of the Patriotic Front (PF) has said the coalition has no good move other then to withdraw its support from the Bulgarian minority government.

Krasimir Karakachanov made his comment in Parliament after Veselin Penev was appointed district governor of the capital Sofia on Wednesday.

Bulgaria's Defense Ministry and Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry have not received an official request for stationing tank bases on the territory of the country, according to Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev.

Commenting on allegations of plans to station tank bases in Bulgaria for NATO military trainings, Nenchev assured journalists Wednesday that there was no cause for concern.

Bulgaria is beginning to emerge from a 2-year political chaos, according to Radan Kanev, Chair of the right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party and Co-Chair of the Reformist Bloc.

In a Sunday interview for the Bulgarian National Television, he commented that the positive impact of the formation of the new government was beginning to be felt 2 weeks its establishment.