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Serving as President of Bulgaria for nine years, Rumen Radev stepped down from this largely symbolic role in January 2026. He then founded his own party, Progressive Bulgaria, and stood as a candidate in the general election on 8 April 2026.
This was Bulgaria’s seventh parliamentary election in just five years. Unlike previous elections, the results were unambiguous: Progressive Bulgaria won with over 44% of the vote, and in May Radev took office as Prime minister. Major changes were quick to arrive, especially in foreign policy.
Radev, the EU’s most pro-Russian leader
According to Krasen Nikolov, a journalist with the Bulgarian outlet Mediapool, Radev is walking a tightrope between the European Union and Russia. “This is hardly surprising,” says Nikolov, “given the strongly pro-Russian electorate that supported him. Even during his presidential term, Radev had been, alongside Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, one of the most vocal opponents of sending military aid to Kyiv.”
According to Nikolov, since Orbán’s electoral defeat in Hungary, Rumen Radev has inherited the role of the EU’s most pro-Russian leader. His approach, however, is different: “Radev seems to be seeking a balance. A significant portion of his electorate would not want to see him sever Bulgaria’s ties with Europe.”
For several years now, Radev has maintained that the war in Ukraine – which he prefers to call a ”conflict” – must be resolved through negotiation, and he places much of the onus for reaching such a solution on Kyiv. Radev has repeatedly echoed Russian positions, issuing warnings about the risk of a nuclear escalation.
In July 2026, Bulgaria withdrew from the Coalition of the Willing. Bringing together Ukraine and 34 states, and led by the United Kingdom and France, the coalition is committed to providing greater support to Ukraine against Russian aggression, and participating in peacekeeping operations on Ukrainian territory.
According to the Radev government, the coalition is useless, since decisions regarding aid to Kyiv are taken by the European Council.
Contradictory positions on Ukraine
In mid-August, the Radev government published its political programme. Several questions regarding the country’s geopolitical strategy remain unanswered: while Bulgaria’s Euro-Atlantic orientation is not called into question, the programme does state that the country now has a different agenda, and will seek to defend its own interests within the EU and NATO.
Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov has described the country’s foreign policy as “multi-vector” and no longer unidirectional. “The programme foresees the government developing bilateral relations with all countries with which we share a direct interest, from east to west,” Hristov has explained.
‘The result is a foreign policy which formally remains anchored to the EU and NATO, while also seeking ever greater room for manoeuvre between Kyiv and Moscow’ – Krasen Nikolov
“This ambivalence,” says journalist Krasen Nikolov, “has occasionally led to embarrassing, and at times almost contradictory, foreign policy directions.” One notable example of this ambivalence emerged from the government’s approach towards Ukraine: almost in parallel to Radev’s decision to withdraw Bulgaria from the Coalition of the Willing, Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova signed a declaration of support for Kyiv during the fifth Ukraine - South Eastern Europe summit. The declaration expresses solidarity with Europe’s steadfast support of Kyiv.
In June 2026, Radev announced that Bulgaria would no longer send military aid to Ukraine. However, after the statement was picked up by international news agencies, the government stepped in to clarify: “Bulgaria is unable to provide financial and military support to Ukraine on a bilateral basis, but continues to fulfil its commitments through the EU and NATO.”
“The result,” says Nikolov, “is a foreign policy which formally remains anchored to the EU and NATO, while also seeking ever greater room for manoeuvre between Kyiv and Moscow. Radev’s tightrope act may be oriented less by a strategic change of direction, than the need to balance the conflicting expectations of the electorate that brought him to power.”
Threats and sanctions
Whilst distancing himself, to some extent, from Euro-Atlantic positions, Rumen Radev has been supportive of US action against Iran. Bulgaria drew threats from Iran after it hosted US tankers for refuelling. In August, the Financial Times revealed that Iranian forces were considering attacks against US targets in south-eastern Europe, including in Bulgaria.
According to experts from the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), “these decisions expose a growing inconsistency in Bulgaria’s strategic posture.”
In July, Bulgaria opposed the initial version of the 21st EU sanctions package against Russia. According to the Bulgarian government, the proposed inclusion of Patriarch Kirill amongst the targets would have no economic impact, and would contribute nothing to ending the war.
The primary reason behind Bulgaria’s discontent, however, was an economic concern. Among those potentially affected by the sanctions package was the tycoon Vagit Alekperov, founder of the Russian oil company Lukoil. The Bulgarian government believed that Alekperov’s inclusion could severely harm the companies of the Lukoil Group, which play a key role in the Bulgarian economy. In the end, the sanctions package was adopted, though not before Kirill and Alekperov were removed from the list of targets.
Domestic priorities
On the domestic front, the Radev government’s main objective is reforming the judiciary. During the election campaign, Radev focused heavily on the fight against corruption. According to his government programme, the Bulgarian judiciary is facing a “profound crisis of institutional legitimacy” that requires radical measures.
Over the last fifteen years, the Bulgarian judiciary has indeed been rocked by a series of major corruption scandals, which have brought to light alleged lobbying networks involved in influence peddling. The standard of living of judges has also improved at a rate that far outpaces the general trend, with average salaries now approaching five thousand euros a month.
According to Progressive Bulgaria, “there is a concentration of power and informal influence that undermines the independence of judges, creating the conditions for interference in appointments, criminal proceedings and sensitive cases.” This assessment comes despite the European Commission’s decision to close the cooperation and verification mechanism it had established to monitor the Bulgarian judicial system.
“Bulgaria has yet to see a single politician convicted of high-level corruption,” points out Nikolov. Radev won the parliamentary elections largely thanks to his promise to promote radical judicial reform and to counter the influence of the oligarchs.
In this context, the focus is on the Supreme Judicial Council, which has recently lost all credibility. Due to the political crisis that gripped the country between 2021 and 2025, the Council remained in office for almost nine years, roughly twice its intended term. With Parliament unable to secure the majority required to elect the allocated number of Council members, the resultant deadlock contributed to an unprecedented crisis within the judiciary.
The government is now promising a comprehensive review of the existing model, including the mechanisms for monitoring the conduct of magistrates. The central proposal involves the introduction of a transparent system for filling senior positions within the judiciary. This would include thorough checks for interference, ties and informal influence.
Such an investigation would potentially involve lifting banking secrecy and examining aspects of magistrates’ private lives. The government programme does not specify how these checks are to be carried out. Speaking to Mediapool, Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov referred to a “light security check.”
The Radev government is also proposing a constitutional reform that would thoroughly reorganise the Supreme Judicial Council and the Constitutional Court, making them less vulnerable to political pressure. In the event of serious breaches, this reform would allow for the removal of Council or Court members before the end of their term.
👉Original article in Hotnews
🤝 This article was produced within the PULSE collaborative network . Krasen Nikolov of Mediapool (Bulgaria) contributed to it.
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