“We are witnessing the most dynamic and irreversible changes in the security environment in the history of humanity,” Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said in his address speaking at the official opening of the XII International conference Security in Southeast Europe – New Geopolitical Dynamics held in the Bulgarian capital city Sofia.

“Over the past year we went through a very complex combination of crises and armed conflicts away or close to the EU and NATO member states. Some of these conflicts generate powerful migration wave towards Europe, something unseen since the WWII. The threats and the risks at the security are associated mostly with the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation, although there is no direct threat for the territorial integrity of the NATO member states defined.

The crisis in Ukraine showed us that it is still possible to remap the borders with force on the territory of Europe, to destabilise countries and not to observe the rules of the legal order,” the Bulgarian Head of State said further.

“On the southern strategic direction of the Alliance the threats are connected with the actions of the abnormal phenomenon of the Islamic State. The barbarian cruelty applied by the terrorist group against the peaceful population and its rivals creates real psychosis. Huge groups of refugees are heading at Europe,” Mr Plevneliev said.