Officers from the Special Tactical Operations team at the Zonal Gendarmerie Directorate in Burgas took part in "Carpathian Blue Shield 2026", the biggest security exercise in the region, held in Romania, the interior ministry says.

The Romanian National Gendarmerie Training Centre in Ociori hosted the exercise in the last days of September. More than 500 gendarmes and soldiers from 19 countries on three continents took part.

Chief commissioner Petar Antiev, head of the General Directorate for Gendarmerie, Special Operations and Counter-Terrorism, led the Bulgarian team. The officers from Burgas ran through two scenarios with Romanian, Slovenian and Estonian forces: neutralising a particularly dangerous criminal who had barricaded himself in a building, and chasing a suspect through woodland.

Organisers say this year's exercise aims to strengthen international cooperation and sharpen responses to real crises. The directorate says the security picture keeps changing, and police must be ready to deal with everything from cyberattacks to natural disasters. The exercise lets agencies share experience and work together.