{"id":48410,"date":"2026-01-07T20:47:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/?p=48410"},"modified":"2026-01-07T20:48:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:48:59","slug":"secureblacksea-fieldwork-completed-in-bulgaria-key-insights-from-sofia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/en\/secureblacksea-fieldwork-completed-in-bulgaria-key-insights-from-sofia\/","title":{"rendered":"SecureBlackSea Fieldwork Completed in Bulgaria: Key Insights from Sofia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"798\" height=\"930\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sofia.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-48400\" style=\"width:380px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sofia.jpg 798w, https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sofia-257x300.jpg 257w, https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sofia-768x895.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>#SecureBlackSea\u2019s fieldwork in Sofia included interviews with&nbsp;Bulgarian diplomatic officials, defence experts, policy analysts, and scholars specialising in Black Sea affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stakeholders emphasised Bulgaria\u2019s dual role as both an EU and NATO member, highlighting the importance of alliance cohesion in responding to regional instability. Interviewees identified several key threats: Russia\u2019s military presence in the Black Sea, hybrid warfare tactics, vulnerabilities in maritime infrastructure, and economic pressures linked to energy dependency. Experts noted that Bulgaria supports stronger NATO maritime posture, enhanced Black Sea surveillance, and improved coordination with EU mechanisms such as PESCO and the EU\u2019s Cybersecurity Framework. Despite political and economic challenges, Bulgaria expressed interest in expanding cooperation on maritime security, environmental protection, and regional connectivity projects. These findings will guide the project\u2019s comparative assessment of security priorities across Black Sea states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>#SecureBlackSea\u2019s fieldwork in Sofia included interviews with&nbsp;Bulgarian diplomatic officials, defence experts, policy analysts, and scholars specialising in Black Sea affairs. Stakeholders emphasised Bulgaria\u2019s dual role as both an EU and NATO member, highlighting the importance of alliance cohesion in responding to regional instability. Interviewees identified several key threats: Russia\u2019s military presence in the Black Sea, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":48400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SecureBlackSea Fieldwork Completed in Bulgaria: Key Insights from Sofia - Global Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/en\/secureblacksea-fieldwork-completed-in-bulgaria-key-insights-from-sofia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SecureBlackSea Fieldwork Completed in Bulgaria: Key Insights from Sofia - Global Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"#SecureBlackSea\u2019s fieldwork in Sofia included interviews with&nbsp;Bulgarian diplomatic officials, defence experts, policy analysts, and scholars specialising in Black Sea affairs. Stakeholders emphasised Bulgaria\u2019s dual role as both an EU and NATO member, highlighting the importance of alliance cohesion in responding to regional instability. Interviewees identified several key threats: Russia\u2019s military presence in the Black Sea, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/en\/secureblacksea-fieldwork-completed-in-bulgaria-key-insights-from-sofia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T20:47:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T20:48:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sofia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"930\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erman Ermihan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erman Ermihan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/en\/secureblacksea-fieldwork-completed-in-bulgaria-key-insights-from-sofia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globacademy.org\/en\/secureblacksea-fieldwork-completed-in-bulgaria-key-insights-from-sofia\/\",\"name\":\"SecureBlackSea Fieldwork Completed in Bulgaria: Key Insights from Sofia - 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