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Bulgaria proposes maritime security center to guard Black Sea flank

Bulgaria proposes maritime security center at Paris summit, targeting continuous surveillance and threat monitoring in the western Black Sea region.

byOlena Mukhina

27/03/2025

2 minute read

A Russian military ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters

Bulgaria proposes maritime security center to guard Black Sea flank

On 27 March, Bulgaria proposed establishing a multinational center to ensure maritime security in the western Black Sea, at the Coalition of the Resolute summit in Paris, according to the Bulgarian government's press service.

Amid Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bulgaria has delivered six military aid packages to Ukraine, including ammunition, armored vehicles, and malfunctioning air defense missiles for spare parts. The Bulgarian government isn’t transparent about its shipments, but it is known that the main aid includes ammunition and S-300 surface-to-air missiles. In 2024, Bulgaria also sent 150 armored vehicles and Soviet-made Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov stated that the coordination center would provide continuous surveillance and early warning of potential threats and hostile activities in the western Black Sea.

"The goal is to establish guidelines for navigation and conduct monitoring—from the air and water—of both critical infrastructure and all potential hostile actions in the Black Sea," he said.

As an example of successful cooperation, Zhelyazkov cited the joint demining efforts of Bulgaria, Romania, and Türkiye, which began in the summer of 2024, European Pravda reports

. Earlier, within hours of the US announcing Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv had agreed on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea in separate deals, the Kremlin said it would only take place once sanctions on Russian agriculture products and several Russian banks were lifted. Rubio explained that US officials will work to more fully understand what Russia’s position is or what they are asking for in return and then present Russia’s position to US President Donald Trump, who will decide on further US actions.

This moment is significant: for the first time in over three years, Washington is not increasing sanctions against Moscow, but instead, talking about lifting them.It’s worth noting that Russian food products and fertilizers have always been formally excluded from the West’s sanctions list. However, actual difficulties in exporting arose due to Russian banks’ disconnection from the European-based SWIFT system.

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