President Radev: Changes in Special Services Lead to Ever More Fierce Political Repression

Atanas Malakchiev, Valentina Dobrincheva, Mila Edreva

President Rumen Radev at The Duke of Edinburgh's Award ceremony, Varna, October 13, 2025 (BTA Photo/Krasimir Krastev)

Varna, on the Black Sea,

13.10.2025 17:02

(BTA)

President Rumen Radev Monday said in Varna that changes in the special services have led to the suppression of those who are inconvenient, increasingly fierce political repression and brutal plundering of public resources and private businesses, about which the public will know less and less. He was referring to amendments to legislation passed earlier in October which transferred the power of appointing the heads of three key agencies - SANS (State Agency for National Security), SIA (State Intelligence Agency) and SATO (State Agency for Technical Operations) - from the President to the National Assembly.

Radev also commented on the latest developments in the case of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who has been held in custody since July 8 on charges of participation in an organized crime group engaging in official misconduct, bribery and money laundering. Reportedly, a secret witness, a Ukrainian citizen, was questioned before the Sofia City Court decided to keep Kotsev in custody on October 10. The President declined to comment on the existence of such a witness or whether he had testified, as this is within the competence of the court, saying that it is SANS's work that causes concern.

Radev said that, according to media reports in July, the acting SANS Chairman deported the person in question and barred him from entering the country on the grounds of his alleged involvement in activities which posed a danger to the public and in money laundering in Varna. Radev said that, if this were true, there would be a case file on it at the Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry. Again, reportedly, the acting SANS Chairman revoked his deportation order two weeks later, allowing that person to return to Bulgaria.

Radev said that this was unprecedented among the hundreds of bans issued over many years, and that the question arose of who had pressured the acting head of the State Agency for National Security into taking this risk and acting against his own principles.

He called on Parliament to clarify the circumstances surrounding the case and establish whether the media reports are true.

Radev said that, by law, the SANS Chair must provide the same information to the President, the Prime Minister, and the Chair of the National Assembly. Stressing that he had not been informed about this case, he said: "This suggests that information is being obtained by those who have no right to it, yet clearly use it for personal gain." He put this down to the changes in the special services.

He further stressed that in this case, the issue is no longer about presidential powers, but about Bulgaria's functioning as a rule-of-law state. In his view, society needs to resist, or else it will slip back to the darkest episodes of dictatorship and plunder.

President Radev is in Varna to present The Duke of Edinburgh's Award to young adults.

/RY/