site.btaPresident Radev Cites Police Chief Attack as Evidence of State Decline

President Rumen Radev said on Thursday that the State was in serious decline when it could not protect the life and health of citizens, citing the attack on Ruse police chief Senior Commissioner Nikolay Kozhuharov as proof. He warned that conduct and rhetoric at the top were fuelling troubling events in everyday life.

Radev said the collapse of State authority had to stop. Asked about the coming political season, he predicted a tense autumn.

Senior Commissioner Nikolay Kozhuharov, head of Ruse police, is in critical condition after a Wednesday-night assault following a confrontation with men allegedly drifting cars. On Thursday, Mayor Pencho Milkov condemned the attack and said it struck at the city’s sense of security. Prosecutors said they were working on the case but gave no details, while the local hospital declined comment, and Interior Minister Daniel Mitov and the Ministry’s Secretary General Miroslav Rashkov are on their way to Ruse. Milkov pledged tougher action against youth violence in coordination with schools, institutions and citizens.