SOFIA: Bulgaria cleared the way Friday for a new NATO command centre in the former Warsaw Pact country to shore up the eastern flank of the alliance against Russian "aggression".
The centre is one of six being set up over the next year by the alliance alongside the creation of a rapid reaction force of 5,000 troops in response to Russia's alleged actions in Ukraine.
The former communist country had banned its military from working under international command on its own soil, but parliament passed an amendment Friday lifting the obstacle.
Half of the 40 staff at the new centre in the capital Sofia will be Bulgarian.
Adrian Bradshaw, deputy NATO supreme commander in Europe, said Tuesday that the centre will coordinate "the forces of different countries taking part in military exercises in Bulgaria... It is not a combat unit, it is a staff headquarters."
To avoid unduly provoking Moscow, ground troops for the new force with be stationed further to the west, but will be able to be deployed quickly in former Eastern Bloc countries who are now members of the alliance.
A new NATO communications centre at Gorna Malina, 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Sofia, will open before the end of the year, Defence Minister Nikolay Nentchev said.
A NATO naval information exchange centre being built in Bulgaria's Black Sea port Varna will open next year, the country's military said.
Bulgaria jointed NATO in 2004. The five other new command centres are to be in Poland, Romania and the Baltic countries.
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