SOFIA, Bulgaria, July 15 (UPI) -- Stars and Stripes has reported the Bush administration is intent on finalizing increase military basing rights in Bulgaria.
U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria James Pardew said he expected to finalize agreements about Pentagon use of the Novo Selo training area close to Sliven and nearby Bezmer Air Base possibly as early as September, when Bulgaria's new government will be sworn in.
Pardew did not mention the Sarafovo air base near the coastal city of Burgas, but that base has previously been discussed during earlier negotiations on U.S. basing rights.
Pardew said during a press conference with Deputy Defense Minister Ilko Dimitzov that the agreement would not create a large, permanent presence of U.S. military forces, comparing it instead to a training program going on now in Novo Selo that includes about 400 U.S. and 250 Bulgarian forces.
This exercise is kind of what it would look like," he said. "It would be like this but more frequent."
As the U.S. military shrinks its presence in Western Europe, primarily Germany, it sees Eastern European bases in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland as possible "lily pad" bases from which to launch or sustain contingency operations. Dimitzov said that no U.S. combat troops would be permanently stationed in Bulgaria, adding that the U.S. presence would be limited by the small size of the bases.
Bulgarian Defense Ministry official who oversees cooperation with the U.S. military, Col. Yordan Yordanov, said "They will become U.S. bases, but not in the sense of U.S. bases in Germany. It will not be building cities, building PXs, commissaries, fitness centers and swimming pools."
