[AzSteven]

...that would authorize the stationing of foreign forces on its soil for the first time in its 1,325-year history, U.S. and Bulgarian officials said.

Bad reporting - Bulgaria was 'host' to garrison troops from Nazi Germany in WW2, and the USSR after WW2. The German numbers were not large, but they had a fighter wing there and ground forces as well. The Soviets had a larger force there to support the Bulgarian army against any surprise attacks by the bloodthirsty ravenous NATO hordes just over the border in Turkey and Greece, as well as the vicuous counter-revolutionary forces of Yugoslavia and any dangerous Boy Scout troops touring old Greek ruins nearby...

[moog]

any dangerous Boy Scout troops touring old Greek ruins nearby...

Yeah, those morally straight boys from Kalamazoo can sure pack a punch.

[traviskicks]

lol

[Neophyte]

True for the Nazi forces, but Soviets had never substantial garrisons in Bulgaria - they dominated the country in many other ways. I think the explanation is that neighbouring Turkey was a NATO member, so big Soviet bases would be a challenge to the pact which Kremlin wanted to avoid.

However, for a short time in 1944-46, when the USSR declared a war to Bulgaria and took over its territory, the presence of their occupying force allowed the marginal local commies to stage a coup and for the next 45 years to rape the country.

[PzLdr]

Some German troops participating in the Yugoslavian and Greece campaigns staged in Bulgaria.