Focus Information Agency
March 18, 2015
General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, NATO: We will not allow aggression by a state to any of our allies
Sofia. NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for Europe General Sir Adrian Bradshaw is on an official two-day visit to Bulgaria, the press office of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence announced.
In the frames of his visit to Bulgaria the deputy commander of NATO forces in Europe met with Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Defence Dimitar Kyumyurdzhiev, Head of the Defence Vice-Admiral Rumen Nikolov, and will visit tomorrow the 68th Special Operations Brigade.
“Russia’s actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine demonstrated the readiness of Russia to begin a process of change in the sovereign borders of sovereign states by force, which was a major deviation from internationally accepted legal norms.” That is what Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, said at a briefing, a reporter of FOCUS News Agency announced.
“This would have implications not only for Bulgaria, but for all EU member states of the Alliance, particularly those of the eastern flank. We need to show clearly that we are steadfast in that we stand behind the provisions of Article 5. Our response so far has been entirely defensive…but again it is necessary to assure our allies, especially those from the Eastern flank that we stand firmly behind the principles laid down in Article 5, the principles of collective defence and that we will not allow aggression by a state to any of our allies,” he said.
“The headquarters of NATO will be located in Sofia with 40 people staff, half of them Bulgarians and the rest of the Alliance countries.” That is what Chief of Defence Admiral Rumen Nikolov, said during a briefing.
The Chief of Defence explained what the headquarters, which will be located in Bulgaria will be and what the command posts. “The second centre or as you say the command centre is a communication centre. It will be located in the formation that exists at the moment and some of it already took part in the operation against the jihadists, as a component of the NATO command in Turkey,” he added.
In his words, the third centre is for the exchange of information between ships: “It will be located in Varna. The beginning of its formation began in 2008, but its final construction will be completed this year, and the adoption of the certification next year. “
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