He was giving first details about a project that would be part of an historic shift of US forces in Europe to move from a Cold War posture to a deployment better suited to the current age of terrorism and conflicts in the Middle East.

"The way I see things is we're talking about one or two bases and the total amount of deployed would amount to 2-3,0000 people, Svinarov told AFP in an interview.

The US embassy in Sofia refused to comment.

Bulgaria is expecting Washington to decide early in 2005 on setting up US military bases in the former communist country, Svinarov said.

Bulgaria has already set up a working group for negotiations. The Bulgarian army's chief commander General Nikola Kolev has said the bases in Bulgaria would be "small and provisionally used."

Svinarov said the bases would be "totally different compared to the US bases that have been located in Western Europe and more particularly in Germany after World War II."

He said Bulgaria, which joined NATO in March 2004, was important since it was "the eastern boundary of NATO right now and very soon Bulgaria is going to be the eastern boundary of the European Union," as Bulgaria hopes to join the EU in 2007.

Svinarov said the bases being considered are Sarafovo airfield near Bourgas in the east and the Novo Selo military base near Sliven in the east.

US forces had used Sarafovo, which is on the Black Sea, during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as an aircraft depot and refuelling base.

Novo Selo has been used for several years now as a training centre for French and Italian army troops.

Parliament had in December said Bulgaria "supports the redeployment of American forces in military bases abroad and approves of the consultations already begun on the issue between the United States and Bulgaria".

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