The Chief of Defence Admiral Emil Eftimov joined today's exercise of Sofia Municipality for disaster protection "Sila 23". "There is no successful prevention without first doing drills, exercises and working out interaction," Admiral Eftimov said, quoted by the press center of the Ministry of Defense. The exercise was conducted on the territory of the Lyulin metropolitan area in compliance with all safety rules.

According to the Chief of Defense, certain measures should not be practiced only after an event has occurred, but on the contrary – long before that. "No structure can cope alone in such situations," he said and again noted the need for interaction and joint training between state authorities. Admiral Eftimov gave the example of the earthquakes in Turkey and recalled that in October 2022 the Bulgarian Army supported the participation of a module from Sofia Municipality for search and rescue in the urban environment in the exercise "BALANCE – Large-scale earthquake management in the Western Balkans through joint cross-border cooperation activities" in Montenegro.

Adm. Emil Eftimov: We will expand the scope of military exercises

The Ministry of Defense took part with personnel and equipment from the 38th Battalion for Nuclear, Chemical, Biological Protection and Ecology – Musachevo from the Land Forces. Servicemen with two special vehicles worked out tasks in nuclear, chemical and biological protection. On a static display were shown defence products for radiation and chemical reconnaissance. The exercise also included disaster response experts from the Defense Staff, two medical teams with reanimated vehicles from the Military Medical Academy to support the activities of the Ministry of Health, as well as the Military Police Service, the Chief of Defense said.

The demonstrations of joint actions were observed by the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova, the Director of the General Directorate "Fire Safety and Protection of the Population" Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov and representatives of other state structures.

Teaching

Admiral Emil Eftimov

Sofia