SOFIA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Bulgaria expects to join a NATO anti-drone initiative by the end of October, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Wednesday, a day after a drone attack sank a cargo vessel off the country's Black Sea coast for the second time in a week.
The attacks have highlighted the growing threat that drone warfare linked to the Russia-Ukraine war poses to commercial shipping near NATO's southeastern flank, prompting Bulgaria to push for stronger alliance defences in the Black Sea.
"Bulgaria will be part of this project as soon as possible. Expectations are that by October 30, we will already be part of the project," local media quoted Stoyanov as telling a parliamentary hearing.
Two cargo ships were hit by drones on October 13 off the Bulgarian coast. One of them, identified as the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo vessel HS Dignity, sank, leaving 11 sailors missing at sea and prompting Sofia to summon Russia's ambassador. Drones struck two other cargo ships in the same waters on October 6.
Bulgaria's transport ministry said a search and rescue operation for the missing sailors had resumed on Wednesday after bad weather and darkness forced authorities to suspend it on Tuesday evening.
Bulgaria has stopped short of explicitly accusing Russia of carrying out the attacks but Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on Tuesday their outcome "benefits the Russian Federation".
Russia's ambassador to Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, said she had no information from the Russian Defence Ministry about attacks on commercial vessels but did not rule out they could be a provocation by a third party, Bulgaria's government said.
Russia has been bombing Ukraine's Black Sea ports, forcing Kyiv to rely increasingly on river ports on the Danube and shipping routes close to the coasts of NATO members Bulgaria and Romania.
Ukraine, for its part, has increasingly targeted Russian grain-exporting ships in other parts of the Black Sea and near the mouth of the Don River in the Sea of Azov.
(Reporting by Stoyan Nenov, Writing by Angeliki KoutantouEditing by Gareth Jones)
