Bulgaria"s possible participation in a U.S...
A high-ranking U.S. diplomat said on Friday the United States was holding informal talks with Bulgaria on hosting elements of a U.S. missile shield on its soil.
However, in an interview with the bTV Bulgarian TV channel, Mladenov said Bulgaria was not currently conducting any specific bilateral missile defense talks.
"There is an ongoing discussion within the framework of NATO with regard to the general makeup of a missile defense system for all NATO countries. At this stage, Bulgaria is holding negotiations within the NATO framework about the conceptual outline of the system," he said.
"This shield is not directed against a threat coming from Russia. The threats that exist for us also exist for our Russian friends," Mladenov said.
U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria James Warlick indicated that discussions were in the very early stages and that so far the United States was only prepared to hold consultations with the Bulgarian government.