Mikhail Naydenov: Russia is the main source of hybrid threats to Bulgaria

Bulgaria must have an effective national strategy to counter hybrid threats. I think we are now on the right track and the institutions and civil society should work more and more on this issue.

This is what Mihail Naydenov, a defence expert and member of the Atlantic Council of Bulgaria, said in an interview for the BGNES English News.

According to Naydenov, it is extremely important that institutions act adequately against hybrid threats.

"First of all, we should have a national strategy to counter them. A perfect opportunity may now arise from the process of drafting a new national security strategy, because the current one is already outdated as it was updated in 2018," the expert believes.

Regarding Bulgaria's role in the security of the Black Sea region, Naydenov acknowledged the country's important geographical position both in the Black Sea and in Southeast Europe.

"The country, according to the Russian subversion doctrine, is seen as a gateway to the Balkans. Even Gen. Reshetnikov stated this directly 5 years ago. Without Bulgaria they cannot reach Serbia, Greece, Republika Srpska and other countries. We have the axis of Belgrade, Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, which is Russia's island of influence," the defence specialist stressed.

Naydenov asked "why the Russian Cultural Information Centre in Bulgaria is still active".

"It should not be that way. In this case, since we have a full-scale aggression against Ukraine, since Russia has declared Bulgaria an enemy state, and given the constant Russian subversive activity, I think that such institutions should not be allowed to function in Bulgaria," he said.

Asked about the main method Russia uses against our country, the expert explained that Moscow possesses the so-called hybrid toolbox.

"They have a very well-developed internet infrastructure. Disinformation is the most visible tool and we see that it works, for example, in social networks. We saw what happened when the moderation of the Bulgarian Facebook was de facto "caught" by the Kremlin. Let's hope that things are now going in a good direction," Naydenov summarised. /BGNES