The deployment of up to eight American tanker aircraft at the Bezmer airbase is the right decision, since the United States is a strategic ally of Bulgaria. This was stated by former Defense Minister Todor Tagarev in the program This Morning on bTV. According to him, our country must respond when its allies need to use Bulgarian infrastructure.
„The United States is our main ally. We rely on our security, on NATO, on the European Union and on strategic cooperation with the United States,“ said Tagarev.
According to him, Bulgaria receives a lot from the United States in terms of security and defense, so when this ally of ours needs to use our infrastructure, it would be best for us to respond in the best possible way.
According to him, the “Bezmer“ airbase is a more suitable place for such a mission than the “Vasil Levski“ airport in Sofia. He recalled that the capital's airport is heavily congested and is located in an urban environment, while after the modernization of the bases in Bezmer and Graf Ignatievo, there are now better conditions for receiving such aircraft.
Tagarev also commented on the concerns about a threat to national security: “If there is any risk, it is not from a purely military point of view“.
The former minister reminded that Bulgaria does not have its own missile defense, but NATO has an integrated air and missile defense system and as part of this system we can be protected.
Regarding the concerns about terrorist threats, Tagarev stated that this is a matter of good coordination between Bulgarian services and allies, as well as increased readiness of the security system. He stressed that he had no information about specific threats.
As an example of the benefits of the partnership with the United States, Tagarev pointed to the development of cybersecurity. He recalled that American funding has been used to invest in the Cyber Defense Center at the Ministry of Defense and in the training of Bulgarian specialists.
“There are many other examples and we benefit greatly from this cooperation“, the former defense minister believes.