Poseidon mine countermeasures exercise begins in Varna

The Bulgarian-Romanian mine countermeasures exercise Poseidon began on 8 November 2026 in Varna, alongside the 13th activation of the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Task Group. The Ministry of Defence says its aim is to improve cooperation between the participating naval forces and increase their readiness for tasks in the Black Sea, Sega newspaper reports.

This is a developing story and further information may be added.

Ships from three countries taking part

According to Sega, six warships from Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye and more than 450 military personnel are taking part in the operation. The newspaper says the activity will continue until 14 November and is the last of the year under Bulgarian Navy command.

The newspaper also reports the presence of military representatives from Greece, Belgium, France and NATO's Allied Maritime Command in the United Kingdom. This refers to the presence of representatives, not the participation of ships from those countries. The presence of NATO representatives does not in itself mean that the group is under Alliance command.

Joint training for mine countermeasures tasks

The naval group's commander, Petar Dimitrov, said participants would practise tactics and procedures, improve their interoperability and conduct mine countermeasures operations. Sega reported his statement.

In Flank's assessment, combining the exercise with the group's activation allows coordination to be practised within an active multinational structure, rather than solely between individual national crews. The number of ships indicates the scale of participation, but results from the tasks carried out are needed to assess the training.

Drones and debris found during previous activation

According to Dimitrov, no naval mines were found during the previous activation, but several drones and numerous pieces of drone debris were discovered. Bulgarian divers destroyed the drones, while the debris was checked for safety and brought aboard.

This experience also draws attention to cooperation between ships' crews and specialist divers when inspecting and making objects at sea safe. The absence of mine finds during one activation does not mean that the entire area is free of mine hazards.

The exercise continues. Further information may be added on the tasks carried out and the results of the training.