The owner of a small sunflower oil factory in Bulgaria has accused American soldiers of illegally storming his business facility during a NATO military exercise last month.
Marin Dimitrov told reporters Wednesday that he had filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the May 11 incident.
On May 11, the soldiers entered and cleared a building next to the airfield that they thought was part of the training area, a US Army statement said. The building was occupied by Bulgarian civilians running a private business.
“No weapons were fired at any time during the interaction,” the Army statement said.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said it was “absolutely unacceptable to have the life and calm of Bulgarian citizens put at risk by military units, be they part of the Bulgarian or foreign armed forces.”
“Exercises in Bulgarian territory involving our Allies should boost the sense of security and trust in collective defense, instead of causing tension among Bulgarians,” Radev said.
The US Embassy in Bulgaria apologised to the business and its employees.
The embassy said in a statement that they are fully investigating the cause of this mistake. “We will implement rigorous procedures to clearly define our training areas and prevent this type of incident in the future,” the statement added.
Swift Response 2021 was a US Army-led multinational exercise held across Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania and involving more than 7,000 paratroopers from 10 NATO countries.
