BULGARIA IN-DEPTH –

THE WEEKLY REPORT 

PILOT ISSUE #2

Covers May 29 – June 4, 2026

 

Executive Summary

Key Judgments

• Rumen Radev’s political honeymoon is beginning to fade as policy confusion, controversial appointments, fiscal pressures, and contradictory statements expose weaknesses in the new government. The administration’s commanding parliamentary majority has so far produced greater political control, but not necessarily coherent policymaking.
• There is still little evidence that Radev and Progressive Bulgaria intend to dismantle the oligarchic structures associated with the Borisov-Peevski Model. Personnel continuity with previous governments, the absence of comprehensive judicial reform, and limited action against entrenched interests increasingly suggest restructuring rather than dismantling of the existing system.
• Bulgaria faces growing fiscal pressure, while the government appears inclined toward substantial new borrowing rather than politically costly tax increases or structural spending reforms. The European Commission is moving toward an excessive deficit procedure, while the government itself claims the 2026 deficit could reach 7.4% of GDP.
• Early signs of increasingly centralized and personalistic government merit close monitoring. Restrictions on parliamentary opposition, limited engagement with journalists and civil society, and Radev’s dominant position within Progressive Bulgaria raise concerns about the longer-term direction of Bulgarian democracy, although there is presently no basis for concluding that outright authoritarianism is imminent.
• Bulgaria’s foreign policy remains institutionally anchored in the West but increasingly ambiguous politically. Radev continues to employ sovereignty-oriented and occasionally anti-Western rhetoric domestically while maintaining substantial practical cooperation with the United States, NATO and the European Union.

Main Findings

Domestic Politics

• Progressive Bulgaria’s overwhelming parliamentary majority has not yet translated into coherent policymaking. Contradictory positions on pensions, maternity benefits, public expenditure and other issues suggest that the new administration entered office without fully developed policies in several important areas.
• Radev’s campaign emphasis on dismantling the Borisov-Peevski Model has largely disappeared from the government’s public agenda. Numerous appointments involving figures associated with GERB, DPS, BSP, previous caretaker governments and established political networks reinforce the impression of substantial continuity with the previous political system.
• Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev’s announced investigation into DPS leader Delyan Peevski is potentially significant, but remains an isolated development rather than evidence of a coordinated campaign against entrenched oligarchic influence.

Economy and Public Finances

• Fiscal policy is emerging as one of the government’s most immediate challenges. The European Commission forecasts deficits above 4% of GDP in both 2026 and 2027, while the Radev government estimates the 2026 shortfall could reach 7.4%, or approximately €9 billion.
• Progressive Bulgaria is seeking authorization for approximately €3.8 billion in additional borrowing. Together with its reluctance to increase taxes, this suggests that debt financing may become the government’s preferred means of reconciling its spending commitments with deteriorating public finances.
• Bulgaria’s underlying economy nevertheless remains comparatively resilient. EBRD and OECD forecasts point to moderate economic growth, while unemployment has fallen to an EU-low 2.8%. Severe labor shortages and demographic decline, however, remain important structural constraints.

Democracy, Institutions and Corruption

• The government’s restrictions on parliamentary opposition, combined with Radev’s limited engagement with journalists and civil society, strengthen concerns about increasingly centralized decision-making.
• There is still no indication of a comprehensive judicial reform strategy. Replacement of the Supreme Judicial Council, whose mandate expired in 2022, continues to move slowly despite the central importance of the judiciary to any attempt at systemic reform.
• The re-establishment of the Commission for Countering Corruption appears driven substantially by requirements for accessing EU Recovery and Resilience Facility funding. Bulgaria’s poor record with previous anti-corruption bodies provides little reason yet to expect transformative results.
• Continuing revelations involving suspected politically connected corruption—including the Baba Alino development and leaked testimony concerning businessman Rumen Gaytanski—illustrate the persistence of precisely the institutional and oligarchic problems Progressive Bulgaria promised to confront.

Foreign Policy and Defense

• Radev continues to present himself domestically as more independent of Bulgaria’s Western partners than his government’s practical behavior suggests. The dispute over US refueling aircraft at Sofia Airport is illustrative: confrontational rhetoric ultimately accompanied continued US access.
• Previously undisclosed meetings involving Radev and President Iliyana Yotova with Trump-connected American figures suggest that the administration is cultivating relationships with influential US political circles while avoiding publicity potentially damaging among its more anti-Western supporters.
• The government’s refusal to proceed with a proposed purchase of advanced missiles for Bulgaria’s newly acquired F-16s raises questions about the direction and pace of military modernization. At the same time, Bulgaria remains materially embedded in Western defense structures, including through prospective participation in the EU SAFE mechanism and previous substantial military assistance to Ukraine.
• Relations with North Macedonia remain strained, with EU institutions continuing to support the requirement that Skopje include Bulgarians in its constitution before advancing toward accession negotiations.

Risk Assessment

Political Risk: High

Fiscal Risk: High

Institutional Reform: Low probability (current trajectory)

Meaningful Anti-Corruption Reform: Low probability (current trajectory)

Oligarchic Restructuring: High probability

Authoritarian Drift: Moderate risk; requires continued monitoring

Western Orientation: Stable institutionally in the short term, increasingly ambiguous politically

Economic Outlook: Moderate growth accompanied by significant fiscal and structural risks

Bottom Line

The first month of the Radev government is beginning to reveal a widening gap between the expectations created by its landslide electoral victory and the realities of governing Bulgaria. The promised dismantling of the Borisov-Peevski Model has produced few tangible results, while personnel continuity, policy confusion, fiscal pressures and the absence of ambitious judicial reform increasingly point toward oligarchic restructuring rather than systemic change.

At the same time, Radev’s foreign-policy rhetoric remains considerably more disruptive than his government’s actual behavior. Bulgaria remains firmly embedded in Western institutions, but the administration appears interested in creating greater room for maneuver while maintaining a more sovereignty-oriented image domestically. The central question emerging from Issue 2 is therefore no longer simply whether Radev will replace Bulgaria’s old political model, but what kind of “Radev Model” will emerge in its place.

 

Editorial

Radev’s Shine Has Just Started to Come Off

In any democracy, even a flawed one like Bulgaria, the first weeks of a new government are typically dominated by symbolism. The next, mature stage in a Cabinet’s life begins when difficult choices arrive and even start piling up. Rumen Radev’s Cabinet appears to have just entered that mature stage.

It has been nearly a month since the Radev Cabinet was sworn in on May 8. Radev and his so-called “Progressive Bulgaria” party won Bulgaria’s April 19 general election because they promised, explicitly or implicitly, that they would fight the oligarchy and specifically dismantle the Borisov-Peevski Model of murky governance. (Named after Boyko Borisov, leader of the right-wing populist GERB party and Prime Minister in 2009-2013 and 2014-2021, and Delyan Peevski, a surprising media magnate and now leader of the ethnic Turkish party DPS, both of whom may or may not be described as “oligarchs”).

The ‘Oligarchy Has Disappeared from Radev’s Agenda

We already noted this in the editorial of our Issue 1, but now more signs have emerged that Radev and Progressive Bulgaria have no intention of fighting Bulgaria’s ruling post-Communist oligarchy. Instead, they seem to be regrouping it and heading it. There has been a lot of reshuffling of people at all levels in government agencies as the Radev Cabinet is taking over the state apparatus. Many of the appointments are, surprisingly or not, cadres of the previously ruling parties – Borisov’s GERB, Peevski’s DPS, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), and ITN (“There Is Such a People”) led by showman Slavi Trifonov and called by its critics “the small DPS”). These appointments, many of which we discussed in our Issue 1, demonstrate a pattern of continuity and consistency with the previous rulers of Bulgaria.

Over the past week, it became apparent not only that no fight against the oligarchy has started, but also that the topic of fighting the oligarchy has practically disappeared from the public discourse. Unbiased observers are increasingly worried that the Borisov-Peevski model is getting replaced by the Radev model. The Radev model would be basically the same in terms of murky decisions on the oligarchy absorbing Bulgarian state and EU funding. However, it would be a more clear-cut model of a one-man rule.

Unlike Peevski, who practically came to dominate the Zhelyazkov Cabinet (January 2025 – February 2026) through suspected backstage deals and alleged influence in the judiciary and security and intelligence service, Radev has come to power through legitimate means, i.e. through elections. What’s making an impression, though, is that Radev seems to be incorporating an even more stringent model – without accounting for other viewpoints, with no openness towards society, no dialogue, no transparency in decision-making, in controversial decisions. While much of that has been true of the Borisov-Peevski Model, the Radev Model could prove to be even worse. Simply because the Borisov-Peevski Model of governance would often reverse controversial decisions under public pressure, at least to the extent that this has depended on Borisov himself who has been quite sensitive about public sentiments.

(That’s assuming that the Radev Model doesn’t morph into an all-out autocracy, in which case it would definitely be much worse for Bulgaria. Such a scenario, unfortunately, cannot be ruled out. In fact, at the present point in time, it could be judged as a still remote but plausible possibility considering Radev’s leader-cult tendencies and many Bulgarians’ tolerance for strongman rule.)

Thus, there is presently a merging of the previous cabinets and the present cabinet including with figures who served in the Zhelyazkov Cabinet and the caretaker Glavchev cabinets (April 2024-January 2025), which were deeply connected with GERB and DPS.

One thing this merging indicates is the lack of cadres of both the Progressive Bulgaria parliamentary group and the Radev Cabinet. It’s almost as though Radev is unable to source people for key positions from anywhere else but the other political parties that are supposed to be his political enemies. That doesn’t convey serious policy-making intentions.

It might be worth noting that Radev’s call for changing the model was deliberately formulated in a very general way. He and his allies never named the oligarchs that they were presumably going to fight against. This whole alleged agenda has now disappeared. It is gradually becoming clear that the big expectations of the public are not reflected in Radev and Progressive Bulgaria’s actions.

Policy Chaos

To complicate matters further, it is starting to seem as though the new parliamentary majority has little to no idea what policies to pursue in key areas. A recent sitting of the Radev Cabinet began with his tirade about how what his MPs and ministers were saying wasn’t true. For example, the Minister of Culture Evtim Miloshev said that his ministry would slash 10% of its spending. A short time later, Radev repudiated that. The same was true of pensions and maternity benefits (the latter is discussed in Top News Items #6 and #16 below). This makes it seem like the Radev Cabinet and the Progressive Bulgaria party have no plan, they don’t know what to do, and then they have to contradict one another.

The mind boggles why if fighting the oligarchy and “restoring statehood” are the biggest priorities, the government is starting its tenure with talk about slashing the budgets for the most vulnerable ones such as the pensioners, the mothers, and culture. In one of the dumbest gaffes of Bulgaria’s new rulers, the parliamentary majority decided to remove the extra €30.68 added to Bulgarian pensions because of the COVID-19 pandemic from the new pension increase by 7.8% as of July 1. Thus, pensions will receive €2.39 less than they were supposed to. The Progressive Bulgaria party has dismissed public criticism over the decision, with MP Konstantin Prodanov, a Radev ally, declaring that “Not all pensioners will starve to death because of €2 less.” (This quote has made this issue’s editorial, which is why we are not mentioning it explicitly under our “Absurdities” section below.)

So, one wonders what is happening with the big topics. Is the state down to these €2 that it’s taking away from pensioners? For example, what happened with the highly detrimental take or pay contract that one of the Radev caretaker cabinets signed with Turkish state energy giant Botas, under which Bulgaria owes half a million euros per day regardless of whether it is using the respective gas transit capacity?

In a paradoxical turn of events, speaking at the weekly Council of Ministers sitting this week, Prime Minister Radev declared that the severe financial situation of the Bulgarian state was due to the inadequacy of the Cabinets from the past few years. Yet, he was the one who, in his capacity of President, appointed half of those Cabinets as caretaker governments during these years. Bulgaria’s take or pay contract with Botas, which can be judged as vastly detrimental to the country while being vastly beneficial for Turkey, can also be traced back to Radev via one of his caretaker Cabinets.

When one considers how Radev himself has been disproving what some of his ministers or MPs had said, one can’t help but wonder whether that’s on purpose: some Progressive Bulgaria figure states something negative publicly, and then Radev disproves him and comes out as the hero. However, drawing such a conclusion could mean overestimating Bulgaria’s new rulers. The confusion among their ranks is more likely to be genuine. Not to mention that there is a feeling of a very unconvincing performance after the thundering election victory on April 19, with Radev’s shine coming off.

Lacking the Will to Tackle Corruption?

Some have claimed that Radev started fighting the oligarchy last week when the Mayor of Kardzhali Erol Myumyun, who is very close to alleged oligarch Delyan Peevski, was brought in for an interrogation with an armed convoy. That hardly seems like the beginning of the fight against the GERB-DPS Model, respectively the Borisov-Peevski Model; it seems like a PR measure for the police. A potential war against the oligarchy could hardly start like that, and this appears to be an isolated case.

Interrogating or arresting (which wasn’t the case) a single politician can actually be counterproductive by creating a martyr’s profile for them. How a potential fight against the oligarchy would develop depends on the judiciary; on whether there isn’t what is known in Bulgaria as a prosecutor’s shield over the respective persons; on whether there are actions by the prosecution and the courts. One cannot expect major results, if any, in fighting high-level corruption in Bulgaria until there is a radical plan for changes in the judiciary. Radev and the Progressive Bulgaria party don’t seem to have any such plan for judicial reform. Coming up with new rules to elect a new Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) and electing its members in a way that’s a little more public doesn’t equal a major judicial reform. Of course, it is necessary to note once again that the term of the current and still lingering VSS expired in 2022 – but that just shows how deep the problems in Bulgaria’s judicial system go and how little political will there has been over the years to even attempt to fix them. The ruling majority needs to have a clear vision for reforming the judicial branch, and it simply doesn’t seem to have any such thing going on. In fact, there are concerns that Radev’s men will take over the judiciary in accord with GERB and DPS, Borisov and Peevski.

The government needs to be proactive in investigating corruption and be very swift in changing the commanding heights of the judiciary in terms of the Supreme Judicial Council. Nothing of the sort seems to be happening. Even the most basic, most obvious necessity – electing a new and legitimate VSS seems to be dragging on into the late fall, arguably for technical reasons.

Take the most current and most obvious case, for example – the illegal construction of an entire town of over 100 apartment buildings in the Baba Alino area near the Black Sea city of Varna. (We’ve covered the Baba Alino scandal in Top News Item 20 in our Issue and in Top News Item 13 in this issue, below.) There are no indications that Radev or the Progressive Bulgaria party is especially eager to investigate the corruption there. The issue first became publicly known from a press conference by Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who is from the PP (“We Continue the Change”) party, formerly in coalition with DB (“Democratic Bulgaria”). Since the illegal town was built by a murky Ukrainian company, there are attempts by the propaganda media in Bulgaria (which are the vast majority) to use this affair to tarnish Ukraine as well as the PP and DB parties. The Radev Cabinet doesn’t know where the investor is, a murky businessman named Oleg Nevzorov. Radev himself has retained control over the key security ministries, and they cannot find the Ukrainian investor.

Staying Away from the Civil Society

During their election campaign, Radev and his allies were promising strong parliamentary and civic control of the authorities. Now, after they have updated the Parliament’s Statutes with severe restrictions on the opposition, they have achieved the opposite. This could be the beginning of outright authoritarian tendencies of Bulgaria’s new rulers. It is concerning that Radev and his allies seem to demonstrate a lack of understanding that it is necessary to communicate their policies and actions to Bulgarian civil society and the media. Thus, Radev himself hasn’t given a single press conference or a normal interview since long before the elections. Nor have the people around or below him. They don’t seem to deem it necessary to inform the public, let alone debate with it, of what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how they intend to do it. The new Cabinet and parliamentary majority are behaving as though whatever Radev says is the only correct course of action. It is as though they don’t understand the need to discuss their policies, which shows they might be unable to comprehend how democracy functions, and how to comply with its rules.

More Foreign Policy Ambivalence

As we already noted in our Issue 1, the foreign policy of the Radev Cabinet is shaping further to be confusing and duplicitous. Radev and his allies actually promised during the election campaign that Bulgaria would stop being the “Yes Man” of Europe, i.e. that they would end the country’s presumed subservience towards its Western allies and partners.

Yet, in the case with the American refueling warplanes stationed at Sofia Airport “Vasil Levski,” instead of seeing them leave, Radev has actually given an extra month – instead of leaving at the end of May, the Cabinet has practically granted them the right to stay until the end of June. (See Top News Item #3 below and This Week’s Joke at the end of the issue.) What exactly Radev discussed about the warplanes with US President Donald Trump and his War Secretary Pete Hegseth will remain anybody’s guess but it is hard to believe that Radev gave them an ultimatum. The whole back and forth with the airplanes and the US visa waiver demand could probably be interpreted the way Radev is interpreting it but that’s probably far from reality. The US warplanes were supposed to leave at end of May and since Radev wasn’t happy that the US wouldn’t waive visas for Bulgarians, he gave them until the end of June.

An even more striking case of wishful thinking by Radev and his allies occurred at his meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week. After the meeting, Radev announced that the European Commission had released the next instalment of funding for Bulgaria under the Recovery and Resilience Facility but it turned out that wasn’t exactly the case. Instead, the Commission actually declared its readiness to release the funding of nearly €400 million on certain conditions.

No less striking are the secret meetings that Radev and President Iliyana Yotova, his former Vice President, had this week with Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s former daughter-in-law, and the current US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle. Radev and Yotova were shy and didn’t publicize the meetings at all, probably because they didn’t want to agitate their anti-Western supporters. The Bulgarian public learned about the high-profile rendezvous from social media posts by Ruddy and Guilfoyle. (See Top News Items #8 and #9 below).

At the same time, it is worth noting that many from Radev’s electorate expected an unabashedly pro-Russian foreign policy right from the start. There is a high degree of duplicity to be observed here as well. The Radev Cabinet decided that Bulgaria wouldn’t participate directly in the Tribunal against Russian leader Vladimir Putin, though Bulgaria is technically still a participant via the EU’s participation. However, the Cabinet didn’t suspend the cooperation agreement that the Gyurov caretaker government signed earlier this spring. During his visit to Paris last week, Radev declared that Bulgaria’s aid for Ukraine would be reconsidered because the country had to take care of its own citizens first but the Foreign Ministry was unable to explain this position. Against that backdrop, Bulgaria has accelerated the paperwork for participating in the EU’s SAFE program for beneficial joint loans for military procurement to boost its defense capacities.

As we noted in our Editorial in Issue 1, Radev seems to be telling different things to different international players. Yet, this doesn’t seem to be a deliberate strategy but a result of a lack of a clear vision about Bulgaria’s strategic interest as a Western nation – or, alternatively, as a “non-Western” nation. Thus, the end result is that Radev’s anti-Western voters are being deluded. This, however, is far better than the alternative the pro-Western Bulgarian majority might get deluded.

For the time being, Radev’s duplicity, or ambivalence, is helping to balance between irreconcilable positions. It remains to be seen whether he has adopted this approach because of the upcoming presidential election in the fall, and whether he might pursue more anti-Western and/or anti-European policies after that.

In any case, Radev’s duplicity in both foreign and domestic policies is bound to end sometime as it will gradually become impossible to be sitting on the fence. It seems safe to forecast, though, that if Radev and his allies go for an outrightly anti-Western, anti-democratic, and pro-authoritarian policies, that seems very likely to generate momentum for a serious political alternative. This would be a tremendous test in self-preservation for Bulgaria as a free society.

 

Top 24 News Events and Developments in Bulgaria for the Week of May 29 – June 4, 2026

1 EU Executive Demands Excessive Deficit Procedure against Bulgaria as New Rulers Claim Enormous Deficit

Commentary: In a telling turn of events about both Bulgaria’s old and new rulers, the European Commission has proposed starting an excessive deficit procedure against Bulgaria. While Bulgaria’s 2025 budget fell within the required 3% of the GDP thanks to derogation for defense spending, the Commission estimates over 4% deficits for 2026 and 2027. The decision about the measure will be taken by the Council of the EU in a month but Bulgaria’s new rulers from Prime Minister Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party have rushed to decry what they claim is a tremendous financial burden left behind by the Zhelyazkov Cabinet of Boyko Borisov’s GERB party, with the backing of Delyan Peevski’s DPS party. The new Finance Minister Galab Donev, who is a former caretaker Prime Minister, a close Radev ally, and famously graduated with a degree in political guidance of the military back in the Communist Era, has claimed that the 2026 deficit will reach a stupefying 7.4% of the GDP, or about €9 billion. Even before the EU Commission’s announcement, Prime Minister Radev himself revealed there will be an excessive deficit procedure against Bulgaria. The new rulers of the country seem to be eager to overemphasize the bad inheritance that they have received from the previous Cabinets, including both the Zhelyazkov and the caretaker Gyurov Cabinet. Against this backdrop, the chairman of the Progressive Bulgaria parliamentary group Petar Vitanov vowed the new government would not raise taxes. However, another prominent PB MP, Anton Kutev, has said he doesn’t rule out raising taxes by the end of 2026. Overall, there seems to be a desire by Radev, Donev, and their allies to present the fiscal situation as dire as possible.

 

2 Bulgaria’s New Ruling Party Set for Massive New Debt of €3.8b, 2026 Budget Still Delayed

Commentary: In what might as well be described as a rather outrageous decision, which will hardly be beneficial for Bulgaria in the long run, new Prime Minister Rumen Radev and his Progressive Bulgaria party have made it clear that they have their hearts set on a massive new government borrowing amounting to €3.8 billion. Finance Minister Galab Donev has proposed raising the debt ceiling specifically for this purpose. For the time being, the decision on the new debt has been delayed by opposition leaders from GERB and PP (“We Continue the Change”) threatening to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court over fiscal laws. However, it seems highly likely that the Progressive Bulgaria party with its parliamentary majority will have its way and the massive new debt will be approved. Apparently, Radev and PB are happy to resort to very massive government borrowing in order not to raise taxes, and/or in order not to carry out painful structural reforms to slash government spending. Both of those would hurt their popularity before the 2026 presidential election. Not to mention that slashing Bulgarian state expenditures would also potentially mean less money for “absorption” by oligarchy figures and circles which feed on those. So far, it doesn’t seem like the Radev Cabinet and the Progressive Bulgaria party are in any way willing to make the oligarchy unhappy.

 

3 Radev’s Ludicrous Play with US Warplanes Stationed at Sofia Airport

Commentary: Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev seems to have attempted, and even succeeded at a blatant manipulation over the stationing of US refueling warplanes at Sofia Airport “Vasil Levski,” which are used by the United States in military operations against Iran. Radev has practically claimed that he demanded that the US waive visas for Bulgarian citizens (anyone vaguely familiar with the matter is aware that this is not how the United States makes visa waiver program decisions), and since the US has refused to do that, he is now reacting by ending the basing of the US refueling warplanes in Sofia. Thus, Bulgaria’s Council of Ministers has decided that the warplanes will remain at Sofia Airport until the end of June. The decision is a laughable one considering the fact that the US originally intended to station the refueling warplanes in Sofia until the end of May. So, while Radev’s posturing against the USA might be good for his anti-Western electorate, he has not only failed to “punish” America for its refusal to waive visas for Bulgarians but has actually awarded it an extra month of warplane stationing. That’s not to mention that it’s not even clear if Radev has even truly made any ultimatum-style demands on behalf of Bulgaria for inclusion in the US visa waiver program – and that the very notion that the Bulgarian Prime Minister could issue such ultimatums to the US is questionable at best.

 

4 Bizarre Seemingly ‘Nepo Baby’ Appointment of Bulgaria’s New Special Rep in Charge of Lukoil Bulgaria

Commentary: Bulgaria’s Council of Ministers has changed its Special Representative in charge of the Bulgarian assets of Russian oil giant Lukoil appointed due to the US sanctions against the company with an individual who could possibly be described as a “nepo baby.” Until now, the government’s Special Rep in charge of the largest industrial company in the country, Lukoil Neftohim Bulgaria, and its subsidiaries, including a chain of gas stations, was former National Revenue Service chief Rumen Spetsov. The Radev Cabinet has now appointed to this position Evgeni Simenov, the head of the “State Agency for Metrological and Technical Surveillance.” The appointment could seem bizarre at first, but it turns out that Simeonov is a well-connected individual through his family’s ties to Radev himself. His father, Gen. Simeon Simeonov, was Bulgaria’s Head of Defense in 2009-2014, the time when Rumen Radev himself rose to the rank of head of the Bulgarian Air Force. Interestingly, in 2017, Gen. Simeonov became a Member of Parliament from the ethnic Turkish party DPS with the backing of its founder and then-leader Ahmed Dogan. On top of that, Evgeni Simeonov’s brother, Hristo Simeonov, is presently an MP from Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party. Gen. Simeonov’s association with the DPS party, presently headed by controversial alleged oligarch Delyan Peevski, could indicate a certain pattern of political continuity in Radev’s political connections.

 

5 ‘Scandalous’ Facebook Comments on Soviet MiG-29 Fighter Jets by the Head of the Bulgarian Air Force

Commentary: A development that many, especially in the so-called Bulgarian “democratic community,” i.e. pro-Western and generally right-wing politicians and voters, have classified as a “scandal” has occurred over Facebook comments by the Bulgarian Air Force commander Gen. Nikolay Rusev over how his command will keep flying the old Soviet-Era MiG-29 fighter jets instead of favoring the newly-acquired F-16s. First of all, it is highly unusual (and probably not very appropriate) for a Bulgarian military commander to write social media posts, but Rusev does that. Second, he is known to be very close to Prime Minister Rumen Radev and a former colleague of his. Third, Rusev’s words have been received badly by many because the Bulgarian military has been tremendously slow in shedding Soviet-Era weaponry and adopting modern, Western equipment – like the F-16s. Rusev’s post, in which he claimed the Air Force would use both the US and the Soviet jets, is taken to mean that he seeks to prolong the agony of lingering Soviet equipment use, especially after Bulgaria only in recent years bought its first 8 F-16s, while neighboring countries have dozens or even hundreds such fighter jets. According to one explanation for the continued favoring of the MiG-29 put forth by pro-democratic politician Metodi Andreev, the commanding officers in the Bulgarian Air Force are simply unable to fly on F-16s, and they would seek to continue flying on the MiG-29s so they can keep receiving extra pay for their “flying hours.” This explanation does make sense, but, if true, conveys a sorry state of affairs and dignity at the Bulgarian Air Force. Several political commentators have urged Rusev to resign because of his post. Some have said he was Radev’s protégé at the Air Force, while Rusev’s wife, Gabriela Naplatanova, presently heads Bulgaria’s Council on Electronic Media, a state regulator.

 

6 Decision to Keep Bulgaria’s Military Toothless as Radev Cabinet Declines F-16 Rockets

Commentary (And building upon #5 above): On June 1, 2026, the US Congress approved a $1 billion deal to sell Bulgaria a total of 125 top-notch air-to-air and close-combat missiles for its newly-acquired 8 F-16 fighter jets. Military observers have noted the missiles are badly needed, and, without them, the Bulgarian F-16s are rather toothless. Weirdly enough, hours later, both Prime Minister Rumen Radev and his Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov declared that Bulgaria would not be buying the F-16 missiles. Stoyanov said Bulgaria didn’t need that number of the said missiles, and had “more important needs.” Radev declared that the state coffers were empty and the request for the purchase from the US made by the Zhelyazkov Cabinet couldn’t be carried out. In a bizarre declaration of “three noes”, Radev tied his refusal to buy the F-16 missiles from the US with decisions not to slash Bulgaria’s maternity leave pay and pensions – as though the military readiness of the Bulgarian fighter jets had anything to do with social payments.

 

7 For the First Time the US Ambassador to Bulgaria Nominee Not a Career Diplomat

Commentary: US President Donald Trump has nominated Douglas Holder, a Florida lobbyist, to become the new US Ambassador to Bulgaria. For the first time, the nominee for Bulgaria is not a career diplomat. Holder has experience as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, and a member of trade delegations to Taiwan and Turkey. Apparently, in his college years, he did a foreign study program in “Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev.” So, any knowledge of the Russian language and of Russia itself that he has is bound to come in handy if he is confirmed by the US Senate to head the US Embassy to Bulgaria. The US Embassy in Sofia hasn’t had a titular ambassador since President Donald Trump’s election 1.5 years ago. If confirmed, Holder will have a lot on his plate on a wide range of topics – from bilateral and military relations to large-scale energy projects, not to mention the wider and more fundamental question of Bulgaria’s belonging to the West under Rumen Radev’s rule and on Donald Trump’s watch.

 

8 Newsmax CEO Meets with, Praises Radev in Unannounced Meeting

Commentary: In a surprise meeting which may or may not have major ramifications, Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, a pro-MAGA conservative US media outlet close to Donald Trump, has met in Sofia with Prime Minister Rumen Radev. The meeting was not announced by the Bulgarian Cabinet before or after it was held, and it only became known from Ruddy’s post on X. The secrecy surrounding the meeting is probably due to Radev seeking not to irritate his anti-Western and anti-American electorate – not that the average Radev voter would have much clue about who Ruddy or Newsmax are. At the same time, Ruddy was lavish in his praise of Radev (his X post is here) as “A new leader for Europe: positive, strong, pro-NATO, pro-America, pro-Trump, pro-Israel.” What’s so pro-NATO, pro-America, or pro-Israel about Radev is anyone’s guess, especially considering his nearly a decade of anti-Western, or, let’s say, Western-skeptic rhetoric while he was President of Bulgaria. Radev could be pro-Trump, though, to the extent that both he and the US President may or may not share some contempt for the established norms of Western democracy and could prefer more arbitrary, even pro-authoritarian ways and means. In any case, Ruddy’s appearance in Bulgaria raises the question about Newsmax’s plans for expanding to the country. In April, Newsmax expanded to Poland through its partnership with Telekom Serbia. If any Bulgarian subsidiary also operates through this partnership, the result might hardly be positive for Bulgaria as Serbia is a well-known source of anti-Bulgarian propaganda at home and abroad, especially in North Macedonia. In other words, Bulgaria hardly needs any US-owned media that might potentially be spreading the Serbian point of view in Bulgarian. So, it is hard to be highly enthusiastic about Newsmax’s entry into the Bulgarian market via Serbia.

 

9 Another Secretive Trump-Ties Meeting in Sofia as President Yotova Meets with Rudy Giuliani and Kimberly Guilfoyle

Commentary: In another secretive and surprising high-profile meeting in Sofia with connections to US President Donald Trump, which took place a day before the Radev-Ruddy meeting, Bulgaria’s President Iliyana Yotova, a Radev ally, welcomed Trump ally Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s former daughter-in-law, and the current US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle. Once again, in a seeming bid not to enrage Yotova and Radev’s anti-American supporters, the meeting was not announced by the Bulgarian Presidency. It only became known from Guilfoyle’s post on X (here), in which she disclosed “the United States is working with Greece, Bulgaria, and other partners in the region to advance a shared vision for energy security along the Vertical Gas Corridor.” The development of the Vertical Gas Corridor for US and Azeri natural gas from Greece to Ukraine and Slovakia in the north is certainly in Bulgaria’s best interest. However, it remains to be seen how much progress Guilfoyle and other figures could make with Radev in charge of the Bulgarian government (not to mention Yotova in charge of the ceremonial Presidency) because of the latter’s rhetorical or potentially any other tendencies to favor some non-Western, non-EU actors who may prefer other gas transit routes.

 

10 Radev Welcomes Greek PM Mitsotakis, Seeks Bulgarian Role in Managing Greek Ports

Commentary: In a rather bold declaration, which may have gone unnoticed by many, Prime Minister Rumen Radev has declared Bulgaria’s interest in participating in the management of maritime ports in Northern Greece, especially the port in Kavala. The declaration came during a joint press conference that Radev gave with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after a meeting in Sofia, their first. Both leaders spoke about boosting and accelerating transport and energy projects and interconnectedness between Bulgaria and Greece, which can only be welcomed by the people of both nations, and even by those of neighboring Romania. It is notable, however, that Radev said Mitsotakis has assured him that Bulgaria would have access to the joint management of ports in Northern Greece. Mitsotakis himself did not comment on that particular matter, and little could be inferred from his facial expression, which did not seem particularly warm at that point. Given the long history of Bulgarian-Greek rivalry in the past, especially during the Balkan Wars in the early 20^th century, when Bulgaria lost its access to the Mediterranean, Greece has been understandably nervous about Bulgarian presence in its north. At this point, one might as well joke that Bulgaria’s own ports on the Black Sea have been so brilliantly managed that it’s time to spread the Bulgarian expertise to Northern Greece. In any case, this analyst’s understanding is that the deeper the integration and connections between Bulgaria and Greece – as well as fellow EU member Romania – the better for all three nations.

 

11 On Radev’s Watch, Bulgaria Condemns ‘Irresponsible Act’ ‘Caused by Russian Armed Drone’

Commentary: In a development that one would not exactly expect to see on the watch of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, who has been maintaining a steady pro-Russian rhetoric for a decade – since he got elected President of Bulgaria in 2016, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry has actually condemned the Russian Federation in a post on X (here). The condemnation was prompted by the crash of an alleged Russian drone in a residential building in Galati, Romania, close to the borders with Ukraine and Moldova. The post proclaimed Bulgaria’s solidarity with Romania. The post is notable especially after last week, when, as discussed in our Issue 1, Bulgaria both denounced and didn’t denounce Russia over attacks in Ukraine.

 

12 Wanted Bulgarian High-Profile Financial Bureaucrat Stoyan Mavrodiev Arrested in Serbia

Commentary: In an intriguing development that has at least the potential to rattle the Bulgarian oligarchy somewhat by leaking some of its secrets, Stoyan Mavrodiev, a runaway former head of the state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank and the Financial Supervision Commission, has been arrested in Serbia’s capital Belgrade. Mavrodiev has been wanted since 2024 with an EU arrest warrant for “criminal breach of trust” for granting a loan of BGN 148.5 million (app. €75 million) to a company owned by Rumen Gaytanski, aka “The Wolf”. “The Wolf”, who may or may not be described as an oligarch, was close to former DPS leader Ahmed Dogan, and had a lucrative Sofia garbage collection contract for many years. He used the 2019 state loan to buy out a company deemed close to him, the money was never returned, and the Bulgarian Development Bank couldn’t recover it through the collateral. Mavrodiev reportedly managed to escape from Bulgaria via North Macedonia and Serbia to the UAE. It is unclear what he was doing back in Serbia. He entered politics in 2009 as part of Boyko Borisov’s GERB party. If he decides to speak out publicly, he could potentially spill out some secrets of the Bulgarian government and oligarchy, and their intertwining in the past 15-16 years. Interestingly enough, Serbia is the new home of Bulgarian oligarch Tsvetan Vasilev, who has been residing there since 2014 when his bank KTB was taken apart by his oligarchy rivals such as his former protégé Delyan Peevski. Serbia has been refusing to extradite Vasilev ever since so it remains to be seen whether it will extradite Mavrodiev. Chances are Mavrodiev will be extradited since he was arrested, plus he is a figure of a much smaller caliber than Vasilev.

 

13 New Revelations in the Big Corruption and Incompetence Mess Surrounding the Illegal Town Baba Alino

Commentary: The scandal from last week about the “illegal” town of over 100 apartment buildings somehow constructed in the Baba Alino protected area near the Black Sea city of Varna has seen new revelations about the affair indicating both corruption and incompetence as well as absurdity. The revelations further confirm the total failure of the Bulgarian government institutions at any level to act in defense of the public interest. Thus, the new Regional Development Minister Ivan Shishkov declared that “Everybody is lying about Baba Alino.” The local Forestry Agency has claimed it alerted the Prosecutor’s Office thrice about the illegal construction, and that the illegal town used up 300 cubic meters of timber from the NATURA 2000 EU-protected network. Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who spent much of 2025 in jail on what are claimed to be cooked-up accusations, said the officials sent to inspect the construction site were denied access, and were even afraid to enter the site. He also noted that he was arrested shortly after he notified the State National Security Agency DANS about controversial Ukrainian businessman Oleg Nevzorov, whose firm KUB is behind the construction. The National Construction Control Directorate indicated that 80% of the illegal buildings were constructed since Kotsev became Mayor of Varna Municipality. According to a report by Mediapool.bg, DANS informed the former acting Chief Prosecutor Borislav Sarafov about potential crimes by KUB but he didn’t act upon that. Boyko Rashkov, a former Interior Minister and current MP from the pro-Western party PP (“We Continue the Change”) claimed Nevzorov is hiding in Turkey. He also added that a collusion between several political parties in the previous parliaments – GERB, DPS, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and ITN (“There Is Such a People”) – sabotaged 11 hearings of then-DANS head Denyo Denev about the illegal town. Putting the cherry on top of the cake, Ukraine’s Ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk made her first comments on the Baba Alino affair by declaring that she had been acting in accordance with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. According to Bulgaria’s new Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev, a DANS order for Nevzorov’s extradition was rescinded in 2025, after the Ukrainian Ambassador called GERB leader Boyko Borisov and DPS leader Delyan Peevski, who were the informal leaders of the former Zhelyazkov Cabinet. For the time being, it doesn’t seem likely that a detailed, honest account of the truth about the scandalous illegal town will emerge, or that anyone truly responsible will be held accountable.

 

14 Leak Offers Rare Glimpse at How Bulgarian Oligarchy Operates

Commentary (and Building upon #12 Above): A protocol from a 2024 interrogation of well-connected businessman Rumen Gaytanski, aka “The Wolf”, who may or may not be described as an oligarch, has been leaked by Bird.bg, an investigative journalism website. The Wolf was interrogated by two inspectors from the now-defunct Commission for Countering Corruption (KPK) on October 9, 2024, after he had been in jail for two months over a BGN 148.5 million loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank approved by its former head Stoyan Mavrodiev, now arrested in Serbia. The Wolf was released on bail of BGN 250,000 (app. €130,000) a week later. In the leaked interrogation protocol, he reveals that he routinely won public procurement contracts thanks to Ahmed Dogan, the former leader of the ethnic Turkish party DPS (dethroned in 2024 by his former protégé Delyan Peevski). In exchange for winning the contracts, the Wolf said he provided Dogan with tens of millions of BGN in payoffs in cash and gold, luxury vehicles, and a luxury yacht. Gaytanski claims that he was forced to do so by Dogan, who bragged that he was rationing the state money in Bulgaria, and was in charge of the Parliament, the Cabinet ministers, the police, the courts, and the prosecution. Gaytanski also said he provided BGN 30 million from the Bulgarian Development Bank credit directly to Dogan. “As far as I know, this was arranged in a meeting between Ahmed Dogan and Stoyan Mavrodiev, and the credit was allocated without any problems and in-depth checks,” the Wolf says. He also claims that Dogan had been threatening him and his family, including “with the worst possible outcome,” and that he had been afraid of Dogan’s “huge influence in all state structures.” “I have also taken him into account and have been coerced into being his figurehead in business because I am afraid of him,” Gaytanski says. He adds that he typically provided Dogan with “no less than 10%” of the value of any public procurement contracts that he won thanks to his political patron. These leaked revelations seem telling enough, and, even if they probably don’t disclose the full picture, can likely be trusted.

 

15 EU Tells North Macedonia to Enter ‘Bulgarians’ into Its Constitution

Commentary: The souring of the already bitter relations between Bulgaria and North Macedonia (a country whose majority was part of the Bulgarian nation in the Middle Ages and up until the Macedonian nation was engineered by the Yugoslav Commies in 1944) continued over the past week, after the developments that we registered in our Issue #1 the week before. This past week was marked by a visit to the North Macedonian capital Skopje by European Council President Antonio Costal, who insisted that North Macedonia should fulfill its commitment made as part of the EU integration process to list Bulgarians in its Constitution as one of the ethnicities inhabiting the country, a measure known in Bulgaria as “the French Proposal.” The French Proposal itself and its backing by the EU institutions is more of a consolation prize for Bulgaria considering how Bulgarian diplomacy has been failing to make any significant headway in North Macedonia since becoming the first nation to recognize the country in 1991. That is because the products from former Yugoslav, Communist, and modern-day Serbian propaganda, as well as propaganda from other, non-Western factors, have deepened the hatred of the Macedonian majority – formerly deemed part of the Bulgarian nation – toward Bulgaria. Thus, this week, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski was clearly enraged by Costa’s statement that listing Bulgarians in the constitution remained the condition for starting the country’s EU accession negotiations. A day after Costa’s visit, the NM Cabinet rejected the “extortion” and “dictate,” presumably by Bulgaria, and Mickoski himself accused Bulgaria of “drastic radicalization” of its “dispute” with the Republic of North Macedonia. Apparently, the NM rulers fear that listing Bulgarians as one of the country’s ethnicities in the constitution will help to erode the Macedonian national identity crafted by Communist Yugoslavia after 1944. Their fears seem far-fetched, however; for example, between 100,000 and 200,000 citizens of North Macedonia have received Bulgarian citizenship based on proving their Bulgarian origin, yet, many of those have stuck to their Macedonian identity and have demonstrated hatred for Bulgaria, with the Bulgarian passport used for convenience for EU work and travel.

 

16 Bulgaria’s Rulers Get Tangled Up on Paid Maternity Leave

Commentary: In a funny development that threatened to blow up into a full-fledged public scandal less than a month after the Radev Cabinet and the Progressive Bulgaria party assumed power, Vladimir Nikolov, a PB MP and a former volleyball star, declared that the ruling party was mulling shortening the country’s paid maternity leave. Bulgaria has some of the world’s longest paid maternity leave of up to 2 years. After it exploded on social media, Nikolov’s statement was corrected later the same day by another PB MP, Konstantin Prodanov, who rejected the notion that the paid maternity leave could be shortened or downgraded, and instead declared that the new ruling party was considering solutions that would stimulate mothers to return to the labor force as early as possible. Funnily enough, the scandal about potentially shortening the paid maternity leave occurred on June 1, which is the International Children’s Day. It certainly led to the disgruntlement of many women, especially those in the pro-Western part of the Bulgarian public who didn’t vote for Radev’s party anyway.

 

 

17 Bulgarian Parliament Sets Up New Anticorruption Commission Because of the EU

Commentary: Bulgaria’s Parliament has adopted a law to establish a new Commission for Countering Corruption (KPK) with the support of all parties except for the ethnic Turkish party DPS led by alleged oligarch Delyan Peevski. The decision comes four months after the previous KPK was shut down by the previous Parliament by Boyko Borisov’s GERB party, with backing from DPS, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and ITN (“There Is Such a People”). The Commission for Countering Corruption is now established anew to satisfy an EU requirement for receiving over €250 million in funding under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, with the end of May as the deadline. The new KPK will have analytical but also investigative functions. One shouldn’t have any high hopes for this new body judging from the history of the previous such anti-corruption bodies in Bulgaria. They were usually tangled in red tape, failed to produce any tangible anti-corruption crackdowns, and, on top of everything else, they were seemingly used as a tool to strike certain oligarchy figures to the benefit of certain other oligarchy figures. For the past couple of decades, some Bulgarian oligarchs have discovered that it is very useful to take over government institutions and then direct them against their enemies. Peevski is the figure that comes to mind when discussing this approach.

 

18 Bulgaria’s New Rulers Investigating Alleged Oligarch Delyan Peevski

Commentary: In a much anticipated development, at least by the voters of the new ruling Progressive Bulgaria party, new Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev has announced that his institution is probing Delyan Peevski, allegedly the most powerful Bulgarian oligarch and leader of the ethnic Turkish DPS party. “There is quite a lot of data, we are working on them,” Demerdzhiev said when asked if there was enough evidence to interrogate Peevski. It is necessary to note once again that Rumen Radev and his Progressive Bulgaria party won the April 19 parliamentary election in a landslide largely on the implied promise that they would crack down on the so-called Borisov-Peevski Model of oligarchy governance in the country. For the time being, Radev himself hasn’t carried out any actions to that end, and Peevski and his media empire have espoused a highly respectful tone of Radev. Demerdzhiev’s announcement sounds like a lonely endeavor in that regard. Meanwhile, Peevski’s media outlets, which are a lot more like propaganda tools, have been stubbornly vilifying Demerdzhiev. On top of that, one should point out that Peevski has been “probed,” on paper at least, by numerous Bulgarian institutions over the years, and they have found nothing wrong with his fabulous rise to riches and power. So, it is unclear whether Demerdzhiev has any support from Radev to crack down on Peevski, or Borisov for that matter. He seems to be acting solo for the time being, and little can be expected from his effort.

 

19 Former Bulgarian Deputy Economy Minister Claims US Lifts Corruption Sanctions against Him

Commentary: In a rather bizarre development that seems likely to be unsubstantiated, Alexander Manolev who served as Deputy Minister of Economy in the GERB-led government from 2017 until 2021, has claimed that the US State Department has lifted US sanctions against him. Manolev was designated for corruption by the US State Department in 2021 (here). According to reports by Bulgarian investigative news sites such as Bivol.bg, he owns a guest house built with EU funding, which he allegedly uses as a mansion. There has been no official confirmation by the US authorities that the US sanctions against him have been lifted. His claims are based on a report by an obscure site called Pavlovic Today, whose author is a Serbian-American. Unlike alleged oligarch Delyan Peevski, who is also sanctioned by the United States under the Global Magnitsky Act, Manolev has been sanctioned only under a different mechanism under the Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act. Manolev himself was ecstatic in a Facebook post but for the time being there is no evidence the US sanctions against him have been lifted, just claims by an obscure source. Against this backdrop, however, Vladislav Goranov, former Finance Minister and a high-ranking figure in GERB, close to Borisov, has told the Bulgarian National Radio in an interview that he was in constant communication with the US government about lifting the sanctions on Bulgarian persons. Goranov, together with Peevski, has been sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. It remains to be seen whether the Trump Administration might be willing to trade the lifting of the sanctions for some political favor by murky Bulgarian figures. The hopes of the Bulgarian democratic community are naturally that it would not.

 

20 Investigation of Bulgaria’s Mystery Mass Murder-Suicides in Petrohan Bogged Down

Commentary: The so-called case of the Petrohan – Okolchitsa murders and suicides that occurred in a mountainous Northwest Bulgarian region in February 2026 featured in this week’s events and developments once again but the investigation remains bogged down, with no new revelations, at least as far as the information shared with the public is concerned. Six bodies were discovered in February in a former mountain hostel and an RV, and all of them belonged to people connected to a secretive organization of explorers and environmentalists, which many claim operated like a cult. This sort of a mass murder-suicide had practically never happened in Bulgaria before, so its occurrence was a shock to the public. For the time being, the investigators’ version is that the three men found in the mountain hostel committed suicides, while the RV bodies resulted from two murders and a suicide. Media reports about the case have ranged from the involvement of intelligence services to mafia operations. In comments this week, Bulgaria’s new Interior Minister Demerdzhiev vowed the police would piece together the puzzle. He said it was weird a major witness, who found the first three bodies and was involved with the dead men’s organization, was allowed to leave for Mexico. Meanwhile, the mother of Ivaylo Kalushev, the man behind the secretive cult-like organization, claimed it was untrue that her son operated with vast sums of money and lavish properties. She complained, together with the mother of one of the alleged victims, that they have no access to the police’s ballistic analysis and bank statements. It doesn’t seem likely that the truth about the Petrohan murder-suicides will ever emerge for the public.

 

21 Bulgaria’s New Rulers Adopt Reduction of New Retirees’ Pensions

Commentary: In what seems like a pathetic move, the ruling Progressive Bulgaria party has adopted legislation in Parliament to deprive new retirees of an extra €30 to their pensions. The small sum in question was added to the Bulgarian monthly pensions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rumen Radev’s party also wanted to slash the extra money for those who are already retired but dropped this plan after public disgruntlement. According to opposition MPs, the change will save a meager €25 million over the next year. Interestingly enough, many of Radev’s voters are pensioners or people close to retiring. Taken together with what was discussed in #16 above, this measure seems like a demonstration that the new rulers of Bulgaria might be more eager to slash social benefits than to carry out painful structural reforms in key sectors.

 

22 Report Reveals Bulgaria’s Military Aid to Ukraine Features Heavy Armor 

Commentary: Ukrainian news site Defense Express has disclosed that the military aid that Bulgaria has provided to Ukraine in its war with Russia included, among other things, a total of 22 T-72 tanks. Bulgaria has provided a total of 13 military aid packages to Ukraine since the war started in February 2022 but the government has never disclosed their contents. The report says Bulgaria also provided about 80 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, among other armaments. The revelation that Bulgaria provided heavy armor to Ukraine could be deemed as somewhat of a surprise, considering that many in the Bulgarian public seem to be opposed to substantial military aid. It’s worth noting that Bulgaria had massive amounts of Soviet-Era tanks, in the thousands, but it’s not publicly known how many of them haven’t been scrapped already and could theoretically be provided to Ukraine.

 

23 Alleged Bulgarian Oligarch Buys Russian State Properties in Sofia despite EU Sanctions

Commentary: In a weird development posing the question about how effectively EU sanctions against Russia are applied in Bulgaria, Valentin Zlatev, the long-time former head of Russian company Lukoil in the country, who may or may not be described as an oligarch, has purchased Russian government properties in Sofia. Zlatev has received three properties in downtown Sofia from the Russian Embassy and a Russian foreign assets agency but has technically not paid for the property transfer. He thus claims that he is not violating any sanctions since he hasn’t provided any money to the Russian side, and that the payments will be made after the EU sanctions on Russia are lifted. The deals were referred to Bulgaria’s national security agency DANS and the Prosecutor’s Office by the opposition pro-Western Democratic Bulgaria coalition. Interestingly enough, investigative journalism site Bird.bg has revealed that the deals were facilitated by a notary public who is the wife of Anton Slavchev, former head of the Commission for Countering Corruption. It remains unclear how a sale can be made without the payment of any money, but, in any case, the deals in question seem to indicate that Bulgaria might not exactly be too eager to strictly enforce EU sanctions.

 

24 Bulgarian Prosecutors Raise Their Voice over the Election of New Supreme Judicial Council

Commentary: In an unprecedented move for Bulgaria, a group of prosecutors and investigators have tabled a declaration to the Ministry of Justice demanding a free, honest, and transparent election of the new members of the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS). VSS is the highest body of the Bulgarian judiciary, which appoints judges, prosecutors, and investigators, and adopts its annual budget but the current VSS’s term expired in 2022. A new Council hasn’t been elected because the Bulgarian Parliament failed to appoint new members, leading to the absurd situation in which the VSS has been operating as an institution with an “expired term.” Many of the issues in Bulgaria’s judiciary boil down to the Supreme Judicial Council, and improper influence and dependencies among its members. Radev’s Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov, who is totally unknown to the public, has responded to the prosecutors’ declaration by vowing his support for the demands. The election of a new VSS is one of the main tasks before the new parliamentary majority but the Bulgarian public’s wider expectations are for a judicial reform that will go far beyond that. For the time being, it remains unclear and seems unlikely that the Progressive Bulgaria party will deliver on substantial changes beyond the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council.

 

Economy Watch

Data Summary and Commentary: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has confirmed its economic growth forecast for Bulgaria from four months ago at 2.7% for 2026, while reducing slightly the forecast for 2027 by 0.1 points to 2.5%.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development also cut its forecast for Bulgaria by 0.1 points to 2.5% for 2026 and 2.3% for 2027. The OECD, which Bulgaria is trying to join, sees a slowdown in consumption and higher inflation with higher energy prices.

Against the backdrop of the signals already being sent by the new government of Rumen Radev and the Progressive Bulgaria party, though, one might not be surprised if Bulgaria’s actual growth in 2026 and 2027 is even slower.

New Eurostat data shows that Bulgaria had the lowest unemployment rate in the EU and the Euro Area in April, at 2.8%, a decrease of 0.1 points. The same was true for January, February, and March, against a backdrop of a 6.3% unemployment rate in the Euro Area.

This is hardly surprising considering Bulgaria is also the EU member state where employers have the biggest difficulty finding qualified labor, according to a new Eurobarometer survey (here). A combined total of 58% of Bulgarian SMEs say finding qualified labor is “very hard” or “rather hard.” This is due to a combination of intertwining factors, ranging from the demographic catastrophe (low birth rate combined with emigration) to deficiencies in Bulgaria’s education system.

In an intriguing development to be noted, Canadian concessionaire Dundee Precious Metals has found a new gold and copper deposit near Chelopech, which in popular Bulgarian culture is known as the place with the richest gold deposits in Europe. Interestingly, the presence of rich gold deposits often provides ideological food for populist politicians to claim that Bulgaria could get rich if only it exploited these resources for its own people.

 

(Other) Curiosities and Absurdities in Bulgaria This Week

Note: This is a mish-mash rubric of sorts; these are presented in a random order. Whether a certain development is a curiosity or an absurdity, it’s for the reader to decide.

 

Russian-Bulgarian Singer Claims Credit for DARA’s Eurovision 2026 Win

Commentary: Filip Kirkorov, a popular Russian singer who was born in Bulgaria, has somehow claimed credit for Bulgarian pop star DARA’s victory at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest. Kirkorov wrote on social media that he found an investor who funded Bulgaria’s return to the contest this year after several years of absence. DARA has replied that her winning song Bangaranga was written back in 2023, and has rejected the idea that Kirkorov might have anything to do with the win. Emil Koshlukov, the controversial former director of the Bulgarian National Television, who otherwise seems to have a dubious reputation, has described Kirkorov’s claims as “complete BS.” This might be one of the few times that we agree with him.

 

Black Sea City Taken Over by Frogs

Commentary: In a funny development which makes our “Curiosities and Absurdities” rubric, thousands of frogs have taken over the downtown of the Black Sea city of Burgas. The frogs apparently multiply at an abandoned construction site downtown, which turns into a lake when it rains. Reports say, however, that the local seagull population took care of the frog problem pretty quickly. (TV report video here.)

 

Doctor Sisters Siphon Off €500,000 from Bulgaria’s State Funds

Commentary: Two doctor sisters from Plovdiv, a rheumatologist and a rehabilitator, have managed to siphon off €500,000, or roughly BGN 1 million, from Bulgaria’s National Health Insurance Fund and National Social Security Institute. They submitted documentation claiming falsely that they treated nearly 4,000 patients when in fact they did not. This type of medical fraud might be more common in Bulgaria than one can imagine. It seems to be part of the reason why Bulgaria’s healthcare doesn’t provide the quality it should in many respects, especially given a massive state healthcare fund budget of about €5 billion annually for a population of about 6.5 million.

 

‘We’ll Have a Better Life in Bulgaria’

Commentary: A report by French-German TV Arte (here in German) dwells on how some Bulgarian immigrants are starting to return to their homeland, after at least 1.5 million left the country since the communist regime ended in 1989. It notes that in 2025, for the first time, only 9,500 left Bulgaria while 44,600 people came to live in the country, including 17,300 Bulgarian immigrants, 6,800 EU citizens, and 20,500 non-EU citizens. While this might be a positive trend, one shouldn’t read too much into it until a far larger number of Bulgarians start returning from abroad, and that is unlikely to happen given Bulgaria’s still severe corruption, rule of law, and oligarchy control problems. It’s also worth noting that the arrival of non-EU citizens might not be a positive thing considering that in Western European nations it seems to have created a lot more problems than it is claimed to have resolved.

 

Mother Partly to Blame for Switched Babies in Bulgarian Maternity Hospital

Commentary: A long saga in which two baby girls were switched at birth in the Sheynovo Maternity Hospital in Sofia has finally ended with the Supreme Court of Cassation ruling that one of the two mothers was partly at fault for the switch, alongside the hospital staff. The case goes back to 2022 when one of the mothers began to doubt whether the child was hers three months after giving birth. One of the wronged families received a settlement of about €35,000 two years ago, and now the second family will get a total of €30,000, a lower sum precisely because the mother was ruled to be partly at fault. Not much to comment here, other than noting that the parents succeeded in proving the hospital staff’s inadequacy.

 

Yet Another Restoration of Bulgarian Communist Era Children’s Assembly

Commentary: In a questionable blast from the past, June 1, 2026, in Sofia saw yet another attempt at restoring the so-called International Children’s Assembly “Banner of Peace”, which was established in 1979 by Lyudmila Zhivkova, the daughter of Bulgarian Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov. The restoration was initiated by Evgeniya Zhivkova, granddaughter of Todor Zhivkov at the “Bells” monument in Sofia, under the old slogan of “Unity, Creativity, Beauty.” (Photos here.) Zhivkov’s granddaughter already made another attempt at restoring the “Banner of Peace” in 1999. While at its peak in the Communist Era, the assembly had child participants from 135 countries, it is unclear how many nations were represented now. The message that children everywhere should want peace is commendable but the communist heritage of the initiative makes it somewhat questionable, not least because communism isn’t exactly a peace-loving ideology.

 

Former Minister Who Signed Abysmal Contract with Turkey’s Botas Gets New Leadership Post

Commentary: In yet another highly questionable appointment of the new Radev Cabinet, Rosen Hristov, a former Energy Minister in one of the caretaker Cabinets of Bulgaria in the past few years, has been tipped to hold a leadership position at the State Consolidation Company (DKK). Hristov is notorious for being the minister who signed what appears to be a highly detrimental gas supply contract for Bulgaria with Turkish state energy giant Botas. The Botas deal is a “take or pay” contract under which Bulgaria has to pay Turkey about €500,000 per day regardless of whether any natural gas is transited. On top of that, the contract is valid until 2036, for 13 years, starting in 2023, and the only way to terminate it is for Bulgaria to pay out the entire sum for that period. The Botas contract, which was signed under the auspices of then-President Rumen Radev, could be described as scandalous at best, despite Radev, Hristov, and others’ claims that it could be beneficial for Bulgaria if a lot of natural gas is transited. It is unclear what exactly led Bulgaria to sign such a contract with Turkey, and without even providing for proper termination clauses. will take a senior position at the DKK at the initiative of Radev’s new Economy Minister Alexander Pulev. The DKK itself is known as a “black hole” of the Bulgarian government. It manages diverse state-owned companies worth billions of euros (such as the military factory VMZ Sopot and the military trader Kintex) but is frequently embroiled in scandals. Hristov’s appointment there can be described as another highly controversial staffing decision by the Radev Cabinet.

 

Bulgaria Ranks First in EU in Share of Smokers

Commentary: A total of 37% of Bulgaria’s population over 15 are smokers, according to Eurostat, followed by Greece at 36%, and Croatia at 35%. This is unsurprising given the absolutely appalling pro-smoking culture in Bulgaria where smoking starts at an early age and is tolerated by almost everybody. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if the share of smokers in Bulgaria is far higher than the 37% cited. For no rational reason whatsoever, huge portions of the Bulgarian population seemingly love to be engulfed in cigarette smoke. Growing up in Bulgaria in the 1990s was especially striking as the number of children and elementary and high school students who smoked was shocking – as it still is. It is no wonder than that Bulgarians have a wide range of health problems associated with smoking, including, among others, a high number of infertile couples.

 

Anti-Western Deputy Prime Minister to Lead Civil Society Development Council

Commentary: In one of the most perverse appointments of the Radev Cabinet, Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov will be the new chair of the Civil Society Development Council. We admit we didn’t even know that Bulgaria had a “Civil Society Development Council,” as it doesn’t seem to have ever made news headlines, but, in any case, Hristov seems like the least suitable person to chair it. He could probably be described as an anti-Western operative who seems to have a strong attachment to certain non-Western entities, and possibly to the communist past. Some call him the “Bulgarian Dugin,” after notorious Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin. Among other things, he is the son of a communist regime intelligence officer, which is quite telling given the genesis and structure of today’s Bulgaria’s ruling “elite.” Paradoxically, Hristov has also served as a Member of the European Parliament, as he doesn’t strike us as someone who is particularly committed to Western values such as a developed civil society. Hristov made headlines with his first interview as Deputy Prime Minister by declaring the opposition parties PP and DB “are now redundant/no longer of necessity,” the type of language used by Communist regime operatives.

 

Father of Bandit ‘Prosecutor’s Son’ Would Not Turn Him In

Commentary: This goes back to Top News Item #22 in our Issue 1, in which we noted that a wanted prosecutor’s son bandit, Vasil Mihaylov, was finally captured after a long time on the run. This week, his father, Biser Mihaylov, an actual prosecutor in Pernik, has declared that he didn’t know where his son had been hiding but “as a father I wouldn’t have turned in/betrayed my son.” When asked who helped his fugitive son during the months of hiding, he said: “Everybody, friends, relatives, family, people with opportunities (i.e. power and money).” The entire episode doesn’t just question the kind of “fatherly love” espoused by the said prosecutor, but it also paints a very sad picture of justice in today’s Bulgaria, or the lack thereof.

 

MP Claims Bulgaria Now Has PM Who Stands Up to US President

Commentary: In one of the most ridiculous declarations coming so far from Bulgaria’s new rulers, Slavi Vasilev, an MP from the Progressive Bulgaria party, stated that Rumen Radev was the first Prime Minister of Bulgaria to have stood up to US President Donald Trump. Vasilev added that he was proud of being part of the parliamentary majority because of that. His claim that Radev stood up to the US President seems laughable. It appears to have to do with what we covered in #3 above, namely, Radev’s alleged demand for Trump to waive US visas for Bulgarians in exchange for the stationing of US refueling warplanes at Sofia Airport. It seems doubtful whether Radev has dared to present such an ultimatum, and, if he did, that would convey a deep lack of understanding of how the US visa waiver program works, and it would pose tremendous danger to the US-Bulgaria alliance. No such indications have come from the US, so Radev might have mentioned the visa issue to the US side but has hardly given an ultimatum. Vasilev’s attempt to extol his party leader and PM over the issue appears pathetic.

 

Bulgaria Is Ranked 39^th Best Country in the World

Commentary: Bulgaria is ranked as the 39^th best country to live in in the annual ranking of US News & World Report here. It is ranked 26^th in terms of environment, and 56th in terms of public health. The ranking seems about right. Bulgaria might be worse to live in than most Western countries but better than most of the non-Western nations, a situation that most Bulgarians don’t seem to realize.

 

Bulgaria Second in EU in Ranking of NEET Youth

Commentary: Bulgaria comes second in the EU, only after Romania, in terms of the share of young people (aged 15-29) who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET), with 13.8% in 2025. That translates into about 120,000 people. A fair share of that number might be due to the Roma community where a lot of young people still leave school very early, without completing high school. In any case, the number is disheartening.

 

Broken Yellow Pavestones in Downtown Sofia

Many of the emblematic yellow pavestones in Sofia’s downtown are badly damaged or broken, a report warns. The yellow pavement in question is a symbol of the buildings of power in Bulgaria’s capital, but they are often in a despicable condition. The government’s failure to maintain them properly is telling about the state of infrastructure in the entire country. Photos here

Green Energy Corridor from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria

Commentary: A report from an energy forum in Baku cites Bulgaria’s new Deputy Energy Minister Kiril Temelkov as saying that Bulgaria and Azerbaijan are initiating a deal with Georgia and Turkey for the development of a “Green Energy Corridor” for transiting renewable energy from the Caspian Sea to Europe via the Black Sea and Greece. The initiative was launched by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in 2023 and backed by Bulgaria’s then-President Rumen Radev in 2024. It certainly seems like a useful initiative, but it remains to be seen whether Azerbaijan and Bulgaria have enough political and economic weight to realize such a transit route for renewable energy.

 

Radev Receives Lebanon’s Minister of Defense

Commentary: This week, Bulgaria’s new Prime Minister Rumen Radev received Lebanon’s Defense Minister Michel Menassa. Radev made the usual declarations about supporting peace and diplomacy in the Middle East. Little else is known publicly about the visit but it is notable that Radev would receive a foreign official of a lower rank. Menassa also met with Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov, a close Radev ally, with the public announcements stating that Bulgarian military academies could train Lebanese students.

 

Croatia Intervenes in Bulgaria – North Macedonia Issues

Commentary: In a somewhat surprising move that can hardly be deemed as very friendly towards Bulgaria, Croatia has backed North Macedonia’s demands for EU guarantees that Bulgaria won’t raise any other objections to its EU accession bid once (or if) it enters Bulgarians as an ethnicity in its constitution. Croatia typically has good relations with Bulgaria, including because, historically, both countries have suffered from Serbian expansionism. In that regard, Croatia is well aware of how the (North) Macedonian national identity was invented in Communist Yugoslavia after 1944. Thus, the position voiced by Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic about North Macedonia wanting EU guarantees seems needless. Bulgaria has hardly indicated that it intends to pose further demands for North Macedonia. In fact, Bulgarian diplomacy has been rather weak and chaotic considering the vast issues at stake in bilateral relations with North Macedonia, and the so-called French Proposal from 2022 that North Macedonia list Bulgarians in its constitution has been the only achievement that Bulgaria’s diplomacy has been clinging to.

 

Infrastructure Watch

Southwestern Arc of Sofia Ring Road Set for Immediate Design

Commentary: The only major infrastructure project to make the news with any developments this past week was the project for expanding the Southwestern Arc of the Sofia Ring Road. According to the new Minister of Regional Development, Ivan Shishkov, design work for the road is set to begin immediately. He spoke after the completion of the environmental procedure for the said road section, which will connect the Boyana Residence in Sofia to the Struma Highway leading to Southwestern Bulgaria and Greece. The 8-km long section, which is presently a simple two-lane road, has been awaiting its expansion since 2000. The cost and duration of the construction will become clear after the road’s blueprint is ready.

 

In Memoriam

Bulgarian MP, Writer Dies at 61

Lyuben Dilov, Jr., a long-time member of Parliament and a writer and TV personality, died this week at the age of 61. Dilov is the son of Lyuben Dilov Sr., a sci-fi writer from Bulgaria’s communist period. He suffered a heart attack during a family trip to Rome, Italy, after Bulgaria’s April 19 elections, and spent a month in a coma in an Italian hospital, before being transported to Bulgaria. He passed away in the Government Hospital in Sofia. Dilov was a scriptwriter and producer for comedy shows in the 1990s, before entering politics in 2001. He was an MP from the United Democratic Forces, and then from Boyko Borisov’s GERB party in seven consecutive parliaments. He is survived by three children and two grandchildren.

 

Election Watch

Former Caretaker PM Gyurov Tipped for Presidential Candidate of Pro-Western Parties

Commentary: Andrey Gyurov, who served as Bulgaria’s caretaker Prime Minister in February-May 2026, has not officially decided whether he will run for President in Bulgaria’s presidential election in the fall. However, he has already received an early endorsement from Ivan Kostov, Bulgaria’s reformist Prime Minister from 1997-2001. Kostov declared Gyurov to be his candidate for president. He was criticized by some pro-Western pundits for making a premature step, including because Kostov himself is hated by much of Bulgaria’s anti-Western and leftist electorate. Gyurov, from the PP (“We Continue the Change”) party generally made a good impression on much of the public with his performance as caretaker Prime Minister. He seems likely to agree to be nominated for President, including because the so-called “Democratic Community” of unconditionally pro-Western parties in Bulgaria doesn’t seem to have a better candidate. Ivaylo Mirchev, Co-Chair of the Democratic Bulgaria coalition, until recently a coalition partner of PP, declared his belief that Gyurov could win the presidential election.

Varna’s Embattled Mayor Rejects Possibility of Running for President

Commentary: Blagomir Kotsev, the Mayor of the Black Sea city of Varna, stated this week that he wasn’t looking towards the presidential position. Kotsev, of the PP (“We Continue the Change”) party, spent much of 2025 in jail on what many believe were cooked up or trumped up corruption accusations in which the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office was used to penalize him for standing up to the oligarchy. The trial against him is still ongoing. Because of the dignity that Kotsev demonstrated during the said ordeal, many in the pro-Western informal “Democratic Community” saw him as a potential presidential candidate. However, that was before Andrey Gyurov (mentioned in the item above), another PP representative, became caretaker Prime Minister in the spring of this year and supplanted him in the eyes of the pro-Western electorate.

 

Pro-Western Party Rejects Borisov’s Call for Joint Candidate

Commentary: Bozhidar Bozhanov, Co-Chair of the Democratic Bulgaria coalition, has described a joint presidential candidate with former long-time Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s party GERB as “impossible.” While Democratic Bulgaria (DB) is part of the so-called informal “Democratic Community” together with PP (“We Continue the Change”) and some smaller political parties, GERB (“Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria”) technically isn’t even though it is center-right and nominally pro-Western. As we noted in our Election Watch in our Issue 1, whenever parties from the informal “Democratic Community” have entered into deals and agreements with Borisov, he has always managed to outsmart them, imposing his own agenda while using them to legitimize his power and his party. So, Bozhanov’s declaration that a joint candidate with GERB was impossible is probably a smart idea – unless, of course, GERB decides unilaterally to back a candidate of the PP and DB parties.

 

Foreign Media Watch

The Financial Times: Bulgaria to be punished for deficit only months after joining euro

 

Top Quotes This Week

“In order to be able to use the F-16 with its superior radars of up to 200 km, Bulgaria needs to have rockets. Radev says we won’t be buying rockets, he doesn’t even say that we can’t afford the rockets right now. Thus [the F-16 of the Bulgarian Air Force] is like a machine gun with a bayonet without bullets – fit solely for St. George’s Day (Army Valor Day) parade. In these people’s heads (i.e. Radev and his allies) we have no future in NATO, we are becoming a redundant link. How could you have been the commander of the Air Force and leave F16 without rockets?”

Metodi Andreev, a former MP from the civic quota of the GERB party, referring to what is explained in News Item #6 above.

 

“The factory for green socks continues to produce green socks. Lt General Simeon Simeonov’s son is the new special manager of Lukoil.”

Metodi Andreev again, referring to what is explained in News Item #4 above.

 

“The foreign policy [of the Radev Cabinet] is seeing the same thing happening as in the domestic policies. Whatever is convenient for them they are mentioning, whatever is not they are sweeping it under the rug, and pretending it never happened. However, in the new information environment such things cannot remain hidden.”

Petko Georgiev, journalist

 

This Week’s Joke:

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev giving an ultimatum to US President Donald Trump:

Radev: “If you don’t waive US visas for Bulgarian citizens, I don’t know that your refueling warplanes will stay at Sofia Airport!”

Trump: “Nah, the visas are staying!”

Radev: “Then the planes are also staying!”

***

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