U.S. Secretary of State visited Bulgaria on February 5 to discuss that nation's contribution to NATO's war effort in Afghanistan, the intensification of joint military training and exercises, pressuring the host country into dropping Russian-made arms in favor of Western ones and the further sabotaging of energy deals - natural gas and nuclear - between Bulgaria and Russia.

China's Xinhua News Agency wrote ahead of Clinton's visit that, "Analysts believe there is no doubt that Bulgaria will respond positively to Clinton's foreign policy, even if they are related to the issues in Iran or Syria."

A Bulgarian news source subsequently revealed that two days after Clinton's departure from Sofia a delegation of U.S. officials including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for European and NATO Policy James Townsend, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs Marie Yovanovitch and Major General Mark Schissler from U.S. European Command visited the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.