Nikolay Nenchev

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated that the Bulgarian army and border police are capable of guarding the country's borders on their own without the need for assistance from NATO.

Borisov said this after he attended the joint training of the navy and border police held in the bay of Burgas on Sunday.

Bulgarian border police and navy will hold a joint training in the bay of Burgas on Sunday.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova and Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev are expected to attend the training which is scheduled to begin at 12 o'clock (EET).

The defence ministers of Bulgaria and Greece have discussed the need to hold talks at the level of contact groups from the two countries' armed forces about joint tackling of the migration pressure at EU borders.

A project to acquire two multi-purpose patrol ships with modular design for the Bulgarian Naval Force will cost BGN 820 M (EUR 419 M), the country's Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said.

Bulgaria's government approved three investment projects to modernizing the country's navy and air force worth over 2.4 billion leva [around 1.2 billion euro] on Wednesday.

The projects concern buying new fighter jets and multi-functional patrol ships, as well extending the lifespan of a minimum of ten MiG-29 fighter jets.

Socialist MP and former defence minister Angel Naydenov was certain that the expenses on erecting a fence on Bulgaria's border with Greece would exceed BGN 500 M.

He made this estimate based on the fact that a kilometre of the fence at the border with Turkey costs BGN 1 M.

Bulgaria plans to build a video surveillance system at its border with Serbia to prevent a possible increase in outbound crossing by irregular migrants, bTV broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

The residents of the southwestern border village of Kulata claim that the first illegal migrants have already crossed from Greece into Bulgaria.

Over the weekend, children from the village noticed six-seven men carrying their luggage in bags who were walking on the international railway line.

Bulgaria's Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said Armed Forces and Border Police officers are set to carry out a military drill in a move bolstering security at the country's Black Sea border.

Speaking at the inauguration of Bezmer Airbase, he has not specified a date, but has set the beginning of April as a possible timeframe.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said his country will be forced to raise a fence along the border with Greece if the country does not uphold its "Schengen commitments".