Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Bulgaria will not send a warship to Red Sea, says defence minister

Photo: BTA

The war in Ukraine poses a risk to shipping, Defence Minister Todor Tagarev said in Blagoevgrad, quoted by the BGNES news agency. That is why Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are joining forces to clear mines floating in the Black Sea - to ensure the safety of navigation in our waters. 

Minister Tagarev rejected suggestions that Bulgaria would send a warship to the Red Sea, to rescue the kidnapped Bulgarian sailors. Our task is to free them, but we cannot engage in a military mission without a decision by Parliament. "It is not at all about sending troops somewhere in Yemen, we are involved with staff officers," the minister added. Tagarev said that the first hijacked ship had a Bulgarian captain and first mate. They are still on board and have not been released, he said. 

The defence minister is in Blagoevgrad to congratulate soldiers who took part in the KFOR mission in Kosovo and the EU force in Bosnia and Herzegovina "Altea".

Reuters quoted last week U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as saying that several countries have agreed to jointly carry out patrols in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to try to safeguard commercial shipping against attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Construction of Bulgaria's First National Paediatric Hospital to begin March 2026, Ministry of Health announces

The Ministry of Health shared a short video showing what the country's first National Paediatric Hospital (NPH) will look like. This hospital is set to open by 2028, as reported by BTA.  The construction will begin in March next year, three months..

published on 6/1/25 3:36 PM

Pope Leo XIV appears at a Catholic celebration wearing his Bulgarian omophorion

Pope Leo XIV appeared last night in the Vatican Gardens wearing an omophorion gifted to him by Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov , the Catholic Church in Bulgaria reported. The prime minister presented the omophorion during his recent visit to..

published on 6/1/25 1:10 PM

NSI: One in four parents cannot afford to take their children on holiday

Nearly one in three children in Bulgaria lives in material deprivation, according to data from the National Statistical Institute for last year, reported by BNR’s Victoria Todorova. Children in the Roma community are the most affected, with more than..

published on 6/1/25 12:29 PM