A solemn ritual for the sending of a Bulgarian military contingent to participate in the operation of the NATO Stabilization Forces in Kosovo (KFOR) as part of the Regional Command “West“ will be held today at 11:00 a.m. on the "Akademik Nikolay Haitov" square; in the city of Asenovgrad. This was announced by the press center of the Ministry of Defense, quoted by BTA. The Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov will take part in it.
The contingent includes servicemen from the 4th Artillery Regiment, 101st Alpine Regiment and 110th Logistics Regiment of the Ground Forces, as well as from the Mobile Communication and Information System of the Joint Forces Command. They will perform tasks related to security assistance in the area, patrolling and surveillance in the area of responsibility, etc.
National commander of the contingent is Lt. Col. Tsvetomir Deyanov from the Joint Forces Command. The commander of the national support element and assistant national commander of the contingent is Major Milen Zlatev, and the commander of the maneuver company is Captain Kaloyan Dimitrov. Both servicemen are from the 4th Artillery Regiment.
The participation of the Armed Forces of Bulgaria in the NATO Stabilization Force in Kosovo began in February 2000. Over the years, the tasks and numbers of the contingents have been changed, so far more than 1,800 servicemen have participated in the NATO operation in Kosovo.
At the moment, more than 200 military personnel are participating in the operation - staff officers and a national support element at the headquarters of the operation in Prishtina, a maneuver company with a national support element and a communication and information center in the Regional Command “West“ in Pecs and a mechanized company, national support element and staff officers in the 2nd Multinational Battalion to the operational reserve of the Pecs operation.
At the end of August, a contingent from the Armed Forces of Bulgaria was rated “Ready to perform tasks“ for participation in the NATO Stabilization Force operation in Kosovo – KFOR.