Bulgaria: Bulgarian President criticises Russia during joint military drills with the US

Novo Selo training area in Central Bulgaria hosted the final round of the latest Bulgarian-American military drills, on Thursday. Observing the manoeuvres was Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, who took the opportunity to criticise media access to Russian military drills, asking journalists "have you ever seen a Russian drill?" The exercises involved over 800 soldiers from both the Bulgarian and American armies, with the US Army contributing 50 men, two M1A2 Abrams tanks, three M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicles and ten supporting units to the operation. The purpose of the drill, according to Vice Admiral Rumen Nikolov, was to demonstrate the interoperability of the Bulgarian army with its NATO allies. The drills come as US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter announced that America will deploy heavy weapons in eastern and central European countries, including Bulgaria. The force is to consist of 90 Abrams tanks, 140 Bradley armoured vehicles and 20 self-propelled howitzers.