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Bulgaria proposes six-way talks of Black Sea countries, including Russia
Bulgaria on Wednesday proposed negotiations among the six countries bordering the Black Sea – Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey, to seek a moratorium on hostilities and turn the sea into a “zone of shared security”.
The proposal, adopted after a five-hour meeting of Bulgaria’s Consultative Council for National Security (CCNS), goes beyond calls for stronger surveillance and military protection of the Bulgarian coast. It envisages Sofia helping to broker an arrangement that would include Russia, at a time when Moscow’s war against Ukraine escalates, while the Black Sea has become an increasingly contested security environment. The statement and proposals adopted after the CCNS meeting on “Current risks and threats to Bulgaria’s maritime security and critical infrastructure in the context of the war in Ukraine” were announced by President Iliana Iotova.
“Bulgaria should take an active role in negotiations and finding consensus between the countries bordering the Black Sea – Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey – for a moratorium on hostilities in the Black Sea and for turning it into a zone of shared security”, Yotova said. She added that “the issue of the Black Sea, the risks, threats and security solutions should be presented at all European formats in which Bulgaria participates, most importantly at the upcoming EU Summit on 16 October.”
The initiative raises questions about whether it was coordinated with Bulgaria’s EU and NATO partners and how it fits with their approach to the war and to possible talks for peace. Its language also appears to suit the Kremlin: a separate track of negotiations involving Russia as one of the key parties.
That is particularly notable at a moment when NATO has been strengthening its security posture in the Baltic Sea. If Moscow sees its room for manoeuvre there narrowing, it could seek other forms of strategic leverage elsewhere – including the Black Sea. Against that backdrop, Sofia’s proposal for a negotiated “zone of shared security” could be interpreted as offering Russia precisely the kind of regional security arrangement it has long sought.
The drones Bulgaria would not identify
The CCNS meeting was called after Tuesday’s a large-scale rescue operation was launched following coordinated attacks involving maritime and aerial drones targeted two commercial vessels around 70 nautical miles from Byala, east of Cape St Atanas. It was described as the first attack against ships in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone.
Yet throughout the meeting, the origin of the drones was carefully left open.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev insisted that Bulgaria could not accuse Russia without evidence. “We cannot claim that the strike was carried out by Russia without having evidence. This is a hypothesis, and when we talk about national security, we cannot work with hypotheses,” he said.
He went further in rejecting a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine and Bulgarian services had established that the attack was Russian.
Radev said Bulgarian security officials had given the CCNS “very clear reports” that there had been no communication with the Ukrainian side identifying the drone. “What Zelenskyy said, that is his responsibility,” he said.
The Bulgarian government will seek coordination with Romania and Turkey and support from the United States for examining the area. Sofia has also asked the European Maritime Safety Agency to conduct, free of charge, an examination of debris from the sunken vessel.
Only after such an investigation, Radev said, would Bulgaria be able to establish what type of drone was used and who carried out the attack.
A divided security debate
The reluctance to identify the perpetrator was one of the clearest points of disagreement at the CCNS.
Ivaylo Mirchev of Democratic Bulgaria said there were “clear indications of Russian involvement” in the sinking of one vessel and the striking of another. His parliamentary group did not support the final statement because proposals for an immediate diplomatic note to Russia and a renewed Bulgarian call for a ceasefire and genuine peace negotiations were not accepted.
Former prime minister Nikolay Denkov, representing We continue the Change, also called for the investigation to be completed, but appeared to reject the possibility of a Ukrainian attack, arguing that Ukraine would have little reason to strike vessels carrying its own grain from ports in Romania and Odesa.
Movement od Rights and Freedoms (DPS )representative Stanislav Anastassov said the government had enough information to identify the perpetrator but should make that information public.
The CCNS nevertheless agreed on a broad package of security measures, including faster acquisition of anti-drone systems, stronger maritime surveillance, protection of critical infrastructure and closer cooperation with NATO and the EU.
The council also called for an EU framework for free and safe navigation in the Black Sea, consultations with Romania and Turkey, and technical and legal analysis by the UN’s International Maritime Organization.
The meeting itself was convened by President Yotova, despite Radev’s opposition to the move. She said the attacks represented an escalation threatening freedom of navigation and economic security, and stressed that an immediate ceasefire was the strongest guarantee for Bulgaria’s security.
Sources: EUalive’s partners BGNES and Segabg.com
Caption: Participants in the Consultative Council for National Security (CCNS) following the meeting, as Vice President Iliana Iotova addresses the podium. / President’s Press Secretariat
