BULGARIA’S MINISTER OF INTERIOR CALLS FOR PUBLIC CALM

In the current situation there is a risk of terrorist threat, but no specific threats to our country have been identified, Bulgaria’s Minister of Interior said speaking after the end of the extraordinary meeting of the national operational staff on security held on 22nd of March.

In the presence of Bulgaria’s Minister of Defense, the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and the Head of Defense, she called on citizens to stay calm, to trust reliable sources of information and not to give in to panic. The Interior Minister also urged the citizens to be vigilant and report suspicious objects and persons. Security measures will be tightened in some strategic sites, mass events, key buildings and facilities, and places of mass gathering.

The meeting took account of the changes in the security environment after the terrorist attacks in Brussels and took account of the preventative measures already taken. It was said that the measures were in line with the adopted plan for countering terrorism and were effective. Other measures will also be applied, as and when appropriate, depending on the degree and nature of the risk.

The meeting of the national operational staff on security was convened by order of Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Rumyana Bachvarova. It was attended by the head of intelligence, the head of defense, the ministers of transport, defense and foreign affairs. The meeting discussed the necessary security measures in the country in the context of the current situation in Europe.

Bachvarova also said that immediately after the first news of the March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels, Bulgaria introduced 100 per cent control at its borders. Security measures at all places of mass gathering - airports, bus stations, underground – have been strengthened. Bachvarova said that a large-scale anti-terrorism training exercise was going to be held in the night of 22^nd of March in Sofia. She added that it had been prepared in the recent 2 months and the timing was coincidental to the events in Brussels.