site.btaFormer DB Co-Chair Denies GERB Leader’s Claim of Talks on Lifting Sanctions against Peevski

Former co-chair of Democratic Bulgaria (DB) Hristo Ivanov wrote in the Yes, Bulgaria Facebook page on Wednesday that GERB leader Boyko Borissov lied when he said that Ivanov was one of the people who held talks with Borissov about the possibility of lifting the sanctions imposed on the MRF - New Beginning Floor Leader Delyan Peevski.

Ivanov wrote: "Today, Boyko Borissov dragged my name into yet another round of intrigue, manipulation, and outright falsehoods, typical of his political behaviour and communication."

Earlier Wednesday, Borissov told reporters in parliament that he talked multiple times with former Continue the Change (CC) co-chair Kiril Petkov, current CC Chair Assen Vassilev, and with Ivanov about ways to remove the sanctions imposed on Peevski as a result of the US Magnitsky Act. Borissov stated: "At the time, they [Petkov, Vassilev, and Ivanov] cooperated in every possible way."

Ivanov was adamant that it is categorically untrue that he has provided or promised assistance in lifting US or British sanctions against Peevski. He added: "Borissov and Peevski have never had any restrictions related to basic human decency, shamelessly abusing unsubstantiated lies in order to compromise and silence their opponents, but the very development of events from 2022 - 2024 confirms my words for anyone who is actually interested in the truth." Ivanov said that he has long argued that these sanctions are based primarily on a political assessment of the inability of Bulgarian institutions to deal with systemic corruption and abuse of public power. This corruption makes Bulgaria a risk factor and a weak link in the Atlantic community for mutual security guarantees.

The former co-chair of Democratic Bulgaria wrote about Borissov: "Whenever he had the chance to break away from the status quo, he ultimately chose to confirm his unwavering dedication and dependence on the corrupt model of taking over Bulgarian institutions, which at this stage is associated exclusively with Delyan Peevski. Faced with the prospect of the gradual liquidation of GERB as an independent political factor, he continues to choose to buy time to prolong his own vegetative existence on the political scene, driven solely by his heavy dependencies. Regardless of the cost to Bulgaria."

Ivanov said that between 2022 and 2024, Borissov and Peevski were hoping to rehabilitate their criminal past by implementing superficial reforms. He continued: "However, immediately after the constitutional amendments were adopted, it became clear that they were not merely cosmetic, and members of the judiciary [working for Borissov and Peevski] began to realize and alerted that the changes posed a real problem for the model and risked leading to its collapse." Ivanov concluded that Borissov's attack aims to undermine the actions of Yes, Bulgaria and CC-DB, which oppose the current corrupt system.