/ world today news/ “There is a potential risk of a refugee flow to Bulgaria, but for now there is no real threat and increased pressure”. This was said by Minister Rumyana Bachvarovaa.
Bachvarova observed the joint exercise of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense on the Bulgarian-Macedonian border today.
“The border between Bulgaria and Greece is internal to the EU, so we organize our actions in view of this fact. We also discussed the possibility of intensifying the refugee pressure in Brussels. Colleagues have shown understanding and will help us by monitoring the situation. We discuss every potential risk, we are in continuous contact with Greece and exchange information”. This is how Minister Bachvarova answered the question of BGNES why she conducts an exercise on the Macedonian border, instead of the Greek one, from where the migrants are much more likely to cross. Not only the European institutions, but also the world’s leading media, such as Deutsche Welle, AER De, etc., have sounded the alarm about such a possibility in recent days.
According to Bachvarova, there is a potential danger, but at the moment there is no real threat and no increase in refugee pressure from Greece. The development of a specific training plan in the area of the Ilinden-Eksohi border crossing near Gotse Delchev is also pending.
“Today we showed that not only the army and the police are in combat readiness, but also the ministers are in combat readiness. We organized the joint exercise in just hours,” said Minister Nikolay Nenchev.
Today, in Zlatarevo, officers from the Border Police DG, the Gendarmerie Directorate – GDNP and military personnel from the Ground Forces are participating in the continuation of the “Border 2016” exercise for security and control along our border with the Republic of Macedonia. The purpose of the training situation is the coordination of forces and means, maintaining the readiness to react in the conditions of possible increased migratory pressure and to counteract the illegal trafficking of migrants.
All-terrain vehicles, a helicopter, a mobile document verification system, a thermal imaging system and Border Police service dogs were involved in acting out a migrant influx situation.
As part of the exercise, documents were checked with a mobile system, checks by joint patrols, car patrols and foot patrols with service dogs, surveillance with a thermal imaging mobile system.
Ministers Nenchev and Bachvarova arrived with a Cougar helicopter, the exercise itself lasted 15 minutes, a group of refugees invaded from Macedonia, they were met by a border guard with a dog, then the gendarmerie arrived with shields, on which they beat the refugees. One woman was injured and one arrested in the collision. The refugees, who shouted “we are hungry” and “Europe”, were pushed back, but they threw several bottles of water at the soldiers.
After that, the Bulgarian and Macedonian ministers flew for 20 minutes first over the Greek and then the Macedonian border. During the flight, it was found that the border area above Belasitsa and Ograzhden mountains is not easy for migrants to cross, but it is not impossible to overcome either. The exercise ended with a meeting between our and Macedonian ministers in the hall of the border post.
The exercise was also observed by the Macedonian Ministers of the Interior and Ministry of Defense, Oliver Spasovski and Zoran Yolevski.
“This contact was a result of Prime Minister Borissov’s meeting with Macedonian President Gheorghe Ivanov in Brussels. A few hours later, the meeting was a fact,” Bachvarova said.
On Monday, Bulgaria will send humanitarian aid to the refugee camp near Tabanovtse.
“We have assured our Macedonian colleagues that the presence of our army along the border is only and solely for the purpose of assisting the police in protecting against a possible refugee flow and we will not perform any other actions,” Minister Nenchev said.
His Macedonian colleague Yolevski added that solving the crisis cannot be done only in the Balkans, but where people leave their homes.
“There is a potential risk of a refugee flow to Bulgaria, but for now there is no real threat and increased pressure,” said Rumyana Bachvarova.
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