18.08.2005
Russian Intelligence Keeps an Eye on the American Military in Bulgaria
|
|
Nikola Dimitrov, AIA Bulgarian section
|
The active phase of the joint drill "Bditelen Straj 2005" in which over 150 soldiers and officers of military police of Bulgaria and the USA and 25 military vehicles.are participating started today. A unit of 168th Military Police battalion of the Tennessee National Guard, represents the American side. From the Bulgarian side the "Sigurnost" VP and VKR forces,- Security - a military police and military counterespionage units, is participating in the exercise. Training is under the joint command of two officers, - Colonel Ivan Mechkov of Bulgaria, and Lieutenant Colonel Patrish Jones.
The exercise will continue for a week. The main task is the exchange of operative experience and in working out interaction attainments while carrying out joint counter-terrorist operations; similar operations are often carried out in Iraq.
During the training, exercises will include shooting during movement against obstacles and against moving targets will
take place. The American and Bulgarian fighters also will undergo drills on "cleaning up" structures captured by terrorists. In addition, training on joint erection of check points and defensive installation is planned; as well as securing of various structures; dispersal of demonstrations, patrolling of settlements in order to uncover terrorists.
Closer to the end of the exercise, competitions and demonstration performances of hand-to-hand combat will take place.
At the same time, Gus Harget, Major General of the Tennessee National Guard, will conduct negotiations in Sofia with representatives of the Bulgarian military command. Tomorrow morning he meetsg with the Chief of the Joint Staff of Bulgaria, General Nikola Kolev. During the negotiations, special attention will be given to the question of bilateral interaction in Iraq up to the withdrawal of the Bulgarian divisions, planned for the end of this year. They also plan to discuss certain aspects of the help rendered by the USA in the process of reforming the Bulgarian Army. In particular, the meeting concerns continuation of bilateral military exercises. The two sides have already agreed that the next time the forces of the Bulgarian army will participate in joint training of the military-police divisions of the two countries. The participants in the negotiations also will consider the issues of staff training for some Bulgarian units on the basis of the infrastructure of the Tennessee National Guard..
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
Gus Harget
(photo: Bolgarska armia) |
According to sources in the Bulgarian special services, more than a month prior to the beginning of the "Bditelen Straj 2005" exercises, Russian military intelligence, the GRU, started to show excessive interest in them,in particular its employees working undercover at the Russian embassy in Sofia. As these sources claim, this interest may be explained by two principal reasons. First, starting from the second half of the Nineties, Moscow has reacted rather to any signs of rapprochement between Sofia and Washington in the military and intelligence spheres. Second,, in the global context the "Bditelen Straj 2005" exercises became an additional step in strengthening the position of the Pentagon in the Black Sea and Caspian regions. During the Cold war, Turkey was the only strategic ally of the USA on the Black Sea. In the Nineties, Bulgaria and Romania joined it.
Owing to disagreements over the military operation in Iran, there was a cooling of American-Turkish relations, and Ankara turned toward a rapprochement with Moscow. Almost at once Washington was compensated for this loss by a change of regimes in Ukraine and Georgia. As a result, the Black Sea coast of Russia appeared is now closed on two sides by strategic allies the USA. From the South to the Northeast, there is an arch consisting of Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. On the East coast of the Black Sea, Georgia supplements the arch.
Moreover, recently the American military has begun to appear often on the coast of the Caspian Sea, as instructors of security forces of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. There is a real chance that the circuit of American allies on the Black Sea will be extended in the east by its Caspian partners. This explains the great interest, and at the same time the extreme nervousness of Moscow in connection with any display of American military presence in this region, the integral part of which is Bulgaria.
Main Page | News Page | 007 News | Print
|
|
|
