On 8th of May, the UK Minister for the Armed Forces, Leo Docherty, arrived in Bulgaria for a two-day visit. He met with Bulgarian Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov to discuss ongoing defence cooperation between Bulgaria and the UK and how our two countries could build on the Joint Declaration of Strategic Partnership signed in October 2023.
Minister Docherty also visited the Bulgarian National Defence College to deliver a speech to students on the Bulgarian Defence Staff Course. He spoke about the UK’s commitment to Bulgarian security and how both countries, as close NATO allies, were working together to support long-term stability in the Black Sea region.
Leo Docherty had been appointed Minister for the Armed Forces in March 2024, having previously served as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs covering Europe since September 2022. In his previous role, he had visited Bulgaria in March 2023. In his current position, Minister Docherty is responsible for armed forces activity including operations, operational legal matters, force generation, and international defence engagement.
Bulgaria and UK share a strong defence relationship. Bulgaria is a key regional NATO ally and as such the UK is committed to Bulgaria’s security. Our military-to-military cooperation has grown significantly since the signing of the UK-Bulgaria Defence Declaration in 2018 and is set to grow further with the re-establishment of the resident UK Defence Attaché position in Sofia in 2023. In 2022, we saw the deployment of the first British contingent to Bulgaria in support of the establishment of the Multinational Battle Group here. We remain committed to joint training and exercises: The Royal Marines will be involved in the naval Exercise Breeze 24 for a second consecutive year in 2024. We are also supporting Bulgaria’s Armed Forces to strengthen their capacity in the areas of English language training, project management, strategic communications, special forces engagement, and military education.
The UK supports Bulgaria’s efforts to strengthen its defences in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On 23 April Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the UK’s plan to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence in 2030. This commitment will see defence spending rise to £87 billion a year by 2030 and will include an additional £500 million for Ukraine and munitions in 2024/25. This will make the UK the second largest defence spender in NATO by some margin and is in response to authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China who are working to undermine our democracies.