Unfazed by Iran’s threats, Bulgaria moves to aid U.S. military operations

WARSAW, Poland — The Bulgarian parliament’s Defence Committee has voted to approve a draft decision enabling U.S. tanker aircraft to support military operations against Iran from an air base on the Balkan country’s territory. The decision comes despite thinly veiled threats from Iranian officials who warned Sofia against aiding Washington.

The committee’s July 21 vote follows a U.S. diplomatic note submitted to the Bulgarian government. In the note, Washington requested Sofia’s approval for the deployment of up to eight Boeing KC-135 tanker aircraft and up to 250 U.S. troops with related gear at Bezmer Air Base in eastern Bulgaria between July 24 and Oct. 1, state-owned news agency BTA reported.

The request is based on the 2006 Defense Cooperation Agreement between the United States and Bulgaria under which the air base is one of the agreed joint-use facilities.

Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the country’s military intelligence service believed the extended U.S. military presence would pose no direct threat to Bulgaria’s security. However, parliamentary approval was necessary due to public concerns linked to the presence of U.S. military aircraft earlier this year at the civilian Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, Stoyanov said.

Following the committee’s decision, Bulgaria’s unicameral parliament, the National Assembly, is to give its authorization at a plenary session. The plenary vote is expected to mirror the committee’s outcome. Of the committee’s 19 members, ten represent the ruling Progressive Bulgaria party of Prime Minister Rumen Radev. The party also holds a majority of 131 of the parliament’s 240 seats.

Slavi Vassilev, the deputy chairman of the ruling Progressive Bulgaria’s parliamentary group, said in a social media post that the parliament’s decision “will put Bulgaria in a position to ask something of its allies.”

“The aircraft were at a civilian airport. We politely asked for them to be moved. They politely asked for them to be brought back. We informed the public of that request, without pretending they were there merely ‘for exercises,’ and we will decide the matter in parliament, as required by law,” Vassilev said. “After that, it will be our turn to politely ask for something else. And we will get it.”

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——保加利亚议会国防委员会投票通过了一项决议草案，允许美国加油机从该国境内的一个空军基地支援针对伊朗的军事行动。尽管伊朗官员发出隐晦的威胁，警告索非亚不要向华盛顿提供援助，但该决议仍然获得通过。

据保加利亚国家通讯社BTA报道，委员会7月21日的投票是在美国向保加利亚政府递交外交照会之后进行的。照会中，华盛顿方面请求索非亚批准在7月24日至10月1日期间，向保加利亚东部的贝兹梅尔空军基地部署至多8架波音KC-135加油机和至多250名美军士兵及其相关装备。

该请求依据的是2006年美国和保加利亚之间的防务合作协议，该协议规定该空军基地是双方商定的共同使用设施之一。

保加利亚国防部长迪米塔尔·斯托亚诺夫表示，该国军事情报部门认为，美国延长军事存在不会对保加利亚安全构成直接威胁。但他同时指出，由于今年早些时候美国军用飞机出现在索非亚瓦西尔·列夫斯基民用机场引发了公众担忧，因此仍需获得议会批准。

委员会作出决定后，保加利亚一院制议会——国民议会——将在全体会议上予以批准。预计全体会议的投票结果将与委员会的决定一致。委员会的19名成员中，有10名代表总理鲁门·拉德夫领导的执政党进步保加利亚党。该党在议会240个席位中也占据131席，是多数党。

执政党进步保加利亚议会党团副主席斯拉维·瓦西列夫在社交媒体上发帖称，议会的这项决定“将使保加利亚有能力向其盟友提出一些要求”。

“这些飞机当时停在民用机场。我们礼貌地要求他们移走。他们也礼貌地要求我们把飞机开回来。我们已将这一要求告知公众，并没有假装这些飞机只是‘用于演习’，我们将依法在议会就此事作出决定，”瓦西列夫说。“之后，就轮到我们礼貌地提出其他要求了。而且我们一定会得到满足。”

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。