Dragomir Zakov, Bulgaria’s representative to NATO, replaces Stefan Yanev, who was ousted as defence minister after downplaying the need for more NATO troops in the country and calling for a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine.
Dragomir Zakov. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs/www.mfa.bg.
Bulgarian MPs unanimously voted Defence Minister Stefan Yanev out of office on Tuesday after he refused to describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a war.
He is being replaced by the country’s permanent representative to NATO, Dragomir Zakov.
“I cannot have a defence minister who can’t say the word ‘war’ and prefers to call it an ‘operation’. One can’t talk about an operation when thousands of soldiers from both armies are now dead,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, the co-leader of the We Continue the Change party, said on Monday, adding that all four governing coalition parties approve of the decision.
Yanev maintained a good reputation during his time as an interim prime minister in 2021, but has been under fire since he downplayed the need for more NATO troops in Bulgaria and Romania.
Last Thursday, as the invasion of Ukraine got underway, Yanev said the media was using the word “war” too freely.
Subsequent attempts to clarify his position brought him further criticism.
“There’s no need for Bulgaria to have a pro-Russian, pro-US or pro-European position: Bulgaria should and is obliged to demonstrate that it can put national interests first,” Yanev wrote in a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday.
However, Petkov said that “no minister has the right to promote individual politics, let alone on Facebook”.
After being appointed by President Rumen Radev, Yanev served as interim premier during two caretaker governments in 2021.
Although not a member of any party, Yanev is close to President Radev, and successfully ran twice as an independent candidate with support from the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
The Socialist Party is part of the current governing coalition and has somewhat pro-Kremlin views. It has condemned the invasion of Ukraine but opposes sanctions against Russia.
President Radev has criticised the removal of Yanev.
“The replacement of the defence minister in the midst of a military crisis in the region is a risk for which the ruling coalition is responsible,” Radev commented on Monday.
Protesters in Sofia on Monday and Tuesday also demanded that Yanev stay in his post, arguing that the ministerial change could entangle Bulgaria in the conflict.
Yanev held various positions at the Defence Ministry in the 1990s and 2000s and then served as Head of the Transformations Department at the NATO Centre of Excellence in Defence Against Terrorism in Ankara from 2005 to 2007.
He later worked as defence attaché at the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington from 2011 to 2014. Between January and May 2017, he served as deputy defence minister and then as defence minister in the caretaker cabinet of Ognyan Gerdijkov.
His successor Dragomir Zakov, 46, has been Bulgaria’s permanent NATO representative since 2019 and is expected to return to Sofia from Brussels to take up his new post.
He previously held positions including deputy political director at the Foreign Ministry and first secretary at Bulgaria’s mission to the UN.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
