The multinational battlegroup stationed in Bulgaria has reached full operational capability as of Wednesday, December 14, 2022, according to a NATO press release. A ceremony was held to mark the event.
On March 1, the 42nd Mechanized Battalion of the Bulgarian Land Forces established a battlegroup in Kabile. Italy became a framework nation in the middle of October, contributing approximately 740 soldiers from the “Torino” infantry regiment. The battlegroup is comprised of over a thousand soldiers from Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Italy, the Republic of North Macedonia, and the United States. The deployment of Montenegrin armed forces is scheduled for early 2023.
In order to better protect the Allies on land, sea, air, cyberspace, and in outer space, NATO implemented the most significant increase in collective defense in a generation in 2014. Since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, NATO has deployed eight multinational battlegroups from the Baltic to the Black Seas, one each in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
