“Turkey is currently a major factor in the region, on the one hand because it has real military capabilities in the Black Sea. Turkey itself is willing and plays a significant role in the processes related to the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Black Sea”. Dimo Gyaurov, former director of the National Intelligence Service, commented on BNT.
According to him, in recent years NATO has underestimated the importance of the Black Sea and the Russian presence has not been compensated. Russia now has serious superiority in the Black Sea, Gyaurov said.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Turkey has restricted the possibility of NATO ships being present in the Black Sea. This makes the situation unequal in favor of Russia.
“Bulgaria and Romania, although they have some kind of navy, it is not a combat one, but rather a patrol one. It is possible to take measures, there are talks on the part of Ukraine about the creation of a corridor, different from the existing one and based on the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey”, Gyaurov said.
According to him, NATO can be present in the region and exercise control not so much through a fleet as through air means.
Gyaurov expressed confidence that Russia would not allow itself a direct conflict with NATO.