Montenegrin, Macedonian Soldiers Join NATO Battle Groups in Bulgaria and Romania

North Macedonian army (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

The North Macedonian army has sent troops to participate in NATO battle groups in Romania and Bulgaria while soldiers from Montenegro will join them in Bulgaria at the start of 2023.

According to the Balkan security network website on Dec. 8, Macedonia has sent one infantry squad each to participate in NATO's heightened awareness battle groups in Romania and Bulgaria, along with Hummers, trucks and field vehicles.

Photographs posted by Skopje's Ministry of Defense, shows squads of 30 armed with M-4 rifles and six lightly armored Hummer vehicles each with gun turrets and two Land Rover Defender jeeps. North Macedonia first sent reinforcements to the NATO battle groups on June 22 which consisted of one squad of soldiers equipped for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense and artillery each, which are part of the Slovenian military presence in Latvia.

The Montenegrin army will deploy 60 troops as reinforcements to NATO after an initial proposal by parliament to dispatch 20 soldiers as a response to the crisis. "Podgorica will send 36 soldiers to Bulgaria at the start of 2023. They will be part of NATO's heightened awareness battle group. The government in Podgorica has allocated EUR180,000 for financing the training of Montenegro soldiers which will be performed at the Krivolak training center in North Macedonia," the article says.