World Bulletin / News Desk

Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania could possibly cooperate in the safeguarding of their collective air space, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said on Tuesday, as Russian planes are more frequently flying near the country's borders.

According to Plevneliev, Bulgarian jets have been forced to intercept Russian surveillance flights more in the last year than in the previous 20 years.

"Every time a Russian plane encroaches on air space near our countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey each send planes to intercept it," Plevneliev said adding that "we wondered if we could be more effective if we joined together to protect our air space."

Bulgarian Defense minister Angel Naydenov has previously said that Russian military planes are flying more frequently near Bulgaria's borders for intelligence purposes.