Sofia, Bulgaria: Around 150 United States troops will arrive in Bulgaria with military equipment for a joint military exercise this week. This exercise comes following the heightening tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
The Defence Ministry of Bulgaria shared the information on Tuesday, February 22.
This joint military exercise holds great significance as on Monday, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, penned down a decree which recognizes two of Eastern Ukraine’s Rebel regions – Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
With this, the Russian President also ordered to deploy its military in the independent declared state. This decision of the Russian President heightened the fear and chances of a major war in the European region., on which several countries expressed their concern.
Defence Ministry in its statement of a press release, stated, “The armoured vehicles, along with the United States troops, will travel from Bulgaria to Romania on Tuesday and Thursday to participate in the training, which is conducted with the motive to foster troops’ interoperability”.
NATO deal permits the United States to send its 2,500 troops to the European nation at numerous joint bases in the Black Sea country. Bulgaria became a part of the NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the year of 2004.
Russia-Ukraine tensions are rising, amid which various countries have imposed restrictions on Moscow. Russian President’s decision has been condemned by the Prime Minister of Bulgaria – Kiril Petkov.
He tweeted, “Bulgaria condemns the decision of the President to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent. We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. International law must be respected. We will continue to speak with one voice in his defence”.