{"id":34738,"date":"2026-08-27T20:53:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/34738\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T20:53:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:53:20","slug":"bulgaria-purchases-7-minehunter-ships-from-belgium-and-netherlands-to-protect-black-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/34738\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria purchases 7 minehunter ships from Belgium and Netherlands to protect Black Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SOFIA, Aug 27 (Reuters) \u2013 Bulgaria has approved the purchase of seven minehunter ships from Belgium and the Netherlands, as the NATO alliance seeks to \u200bbolster its capabilities to clear naval mines and secure <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/26\/opinion\/putins-black-sea-food-fight-puts-the-world-and-your-grocery-bill-at-risk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shipping \u200croutes in the Black Sea<\/a>, local media reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Along with Romania and Turkey, Bulgaria agreed at a\u00a0NATO summit in July\u00a0to expand a joint \u200btask force that clears mines floating in the Black Sea \u200bto include missions to protect critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>The three NATO states, \u2060which\u00a0share the Black Sea\u00a0with Georgia, Russia and Ukraine, formed the \u200bde-mining task force in 2024 to counter the threat of floating \u200bmines after <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/27\/world-news\/russia-says-it-launched-a-massive-overnight-strike-on-9-ukrainian-cities\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moscow\u2019s invasion of\u00a0Ukraine<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40536028\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bulgarian-navy-minehunter-bgs-tsibar-138652725.jpg\" alt=\"Bulgarian Navy minehunter BGS Tsibar sailing in the Bosphorus, Istanbul, with a mosque, TV tower, and sun on the horizon.\" class=\"wp-image-40536028\"\/>Bulgarian Navy minehunter BGS Tsibar sails in the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 29, 2020, after participating in the Turkish Navy-led multinational Mine Warfare Exercise Nusret-2020.\u00a0 REUTERS<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40536032\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/royal-norwegian-navy-patrol-vessel-138652724.jpg\" alt=\"Belgian Navy minehunter M923 Narcis, Royal Norwegian Navy patrol vessel P380 Olav Tryggvason, and Estonian Navy minehunter M314 Sakala attend annual NATO multinational operation Open Spirit 2017 near Mersrags, Latvia.\" class=\"wp-image-40536032\"\/>Belgian Navy minehunter M923 Narcis (L to R), Royal Norwegian Navy patrol vessel P380 Olav Tryggvason and Estonian Navy minehunter M314 Sakala attend annual NATO multinational operation Open Spirit 2017 near Mersrags, Latvia, on Aug. 28, 2017. REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>Under a sale agreement with the Netherlands approved by the Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday, Bulgaria will receive three ships equipped to \u200bseek and destroy mines and mine-like objects, while a separate transfer \u200bagreement between Belgium, the Netherlands and Bulgaria covers another four vessels.<\/p>\n<p>The Netherlands has \u200ccommitted \u2060to restoring the technical capabilities and increasing the operational capacity of three ships before transferring ownership, with Bulgaria paying for repair and restoration work to bring all seven vessels to NATO operational readiness standards.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese mine \u200bhunters are particularly \u200bnecessary. We \u2060have three of the same type, and with these seven we will complement and further enhance our \u200bcapabilities,\u201d Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said before lawmakers approved \u200bthe deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBulgaria \u2060is part of the mine countermeasures group established together with our colleagues from Turkey and Romania, and it is working in excellent coordination \u2060to clear \u200bthe maritime areas of the three countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A \u200bmemorandum of understanding covering the acquisition also includes crew training, spare parts and additional \u200bequipment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOFIA, Aug 27 (Reuters) \u2013 Bulgaria has approved the purchase of seven minehunter ships from Belgium and the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,15745,314,1023,396,18679,142],"class_list":["post-34738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-black-sea","tag-bulgaria","tag-netherlands","tag-war","tag-warships","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117169462087240180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}