site.btaUPDATED Outgoing Defence Minister: Next Caretaker Minister Should Continue Rapid Development of Capabilities

Of course, it is important who will be defence minister, but it is also important to continue this course of rapid development of the country's defence capabilities, said Outgoing Defence Minister Todor Tagarev  on Bulgarian National Television.  

He said that he had not had any talks to be defence minister in the next regular cabinet. “The exhaustion is severe, the working environment is toxic, it is not easy,” Tagarev said.  

“I am not a member of a political party and I was not involved in the negotiations. I have full confidence in Nikolay Denkov, who said that my name was not mentioned in the process of the negotiations,” said Tagarev. He clarified that he had no plans to create a political project.

In connection with a statement by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria co-leader Atanas Atanasov that the Military Intelligence Service is investigating him, Tagarev said. "The issue is very sensitive, I would not like to share more," he added. "There is a certain case, but there is no investigation of politicians by the military intelligence service," Tagarev said, adding that this cannot happen because the service has no such legal powers.

Under this cabinet many things were done, changes in the Constitution on the initiative of the cabinet and other legal changes, the outgoing minister said and stressed that the main change is that Bulgaria has managed to position itself again, after a period of hesitation. "This cabinet has stated clearly and categorically that we are NATO and we understand that Russia is an aggressor, and we have both a moral obligation in terms of international law and a strategic interest to help Ukraine," he said, adding that this has re-established the country as a worthy member of NATO and the European Union, respected by the international community. “Whether I have played any role in this, perhaps because my position on this issue is clear enough. I admit that this may have caused some jealousy,” said Tagarev.

 "The security situation is so complex that we cannot afford to remain in a state of weightlesness for long," said Tagarev later on Friday at a conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Bulgaria's NATO membership.