Gendarmerie (Bulgaria)

The Bulgarian Gendarmerie (Жандармерия – Zhandarmeriya) is part of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior or "MoI"/"MVR". (Bulgarian: "Министерство на вътрешните работи" or "МВР", pronounced [mevere]). It forms part of the country's General Directorate "Gendarmerie, Special Operations and Counterterrorism". It was a militarized special police force, deployed to secure important facilities and buildings, to respond to riots, and to counter militant threats. Its agents were trained to operate in both urban and wilderness environments so as to be able to carry out a wide range of duties. The Gendarmerie was meant to be a force structure intermediate between the army and the police which has military status.

The Gendarmerie originated from the Internal Troops of the MIA after the transition period from a socialist regime to democracy between 1989 and 1991. It was organised as "National Gendarmerie Service", equal in status and independent from the National Police Service. The reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 2012 has the service disbanded and its manpower and equipment absorbed into the Police with a change in the naming from Gendarmerie to Specialized Police Forces (, erroneously translated into English as Special Police Forces, which could be seen on some of the daily attire of its service members). The name change was reverted to Gendarmerie in 2014, but the service did not regain its separate status and it remained a part of the Main Directorate of National Police (Главна дирекция "Национална полиция"). As of 2023, it's a part of the General Directorate "Gendarmerie, Special Operations and Counterterrorism", under the Ministry of Interior.

The service members had military style ranks from sergeant to colonel, following a system not used throughout the Bulgarian police forces. The overall commander of the force was usually a Major General.

For riot duty the gendarmerie officers are equipped with Makarov 9x18 pistols, protective gear, gas grenades, police batons and non lethal weapons and ammunition. When performing high risk tactical operations they are equipped with protective gear, helmets, Makarov or Glock handguns, stun grenades, MP5 sub machine guns and 5.45x39mm AKS 74U rifles, which are specialized versions of the original Kalashnikov assault rifle. They also rarely utilize drones. As for vehicles the Gendarmerie uses a number of Iveco VM92 APCs, Ford Transit vans and Haval H6 SUVs for day to day duties. They also use water cannons for riots and demonstrations and a small number of Audi vehicles for special events, to secure VIP transit and to protect the transportation of large amounts of government money and gold.