EditUkraine security pact sparks clash between Bulgaria’s caretaker cabinet and election frontrunner Radev
The furious reaction of the former president highlights deepening geopolitical fault lines over Kyiv support in the run-up to snap elections
The Bulgarian caretaker government’s decision to sign a 10-year defence cooperation agreement with Ukraine triggered the furious reaction of Rumen Radev, the former president and leader of Progressive Bulgaria – the expected frontrunner ahead of the 19 April elections. This offered an early indication of the geopolitical fault lines likely to shape the campaign around Radev’s party – broadly in line with forecasts that the former president’s foreign policy instincts would once again align more closely with Kremlin narratives, combining energy dependence arguments with a distinctly skeptical line on military backing for Kyiv.
The timing is politically significant.
At the official start of the campaign for Bulgaria’s snap parliamentary election, the latest national Market Links poll, placed Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria in first place with 21.1%, ahead of GERB at 18.6% and PP-DB on 12%. Above the 4% threshold to enter Parliament are the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, led by the U.S. and UK corruption sanctioned oligarch Delуan Peevski, with 7.2%, and the pro-Russian nationalists of Vazrazhdane with 4.9%. The socialist BSP remains below the threshold at 3%, followed by MECh at 2.8% and Velichie at 2.7%.
Against that backdrop, caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov’s unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, with five ministers in his delegation, has sharpened the contrast between the incumbent cabinet’s Euro-Atlantic line and the geopolitical orientation many in Sofia expect from a future Radev-led government.
During the visit, Bulgaria and Ukraine signed a 10-year agreement on defence cooperation. Gurov described the deal as a contribution to Euro-Atlantic security across the region and linked it directly to Black Sea security, underlining Ukraine’s ability to protect critical infrastructure and ensure freedom of navigation.
He also stressed that Bulgaria intends to be a long-term partner not only in wartime support but also in Ukraine’s reconstruction, citing opportunities in innovation, technology transfer, science and the defence industry.
Radev reacted on Facebook:
Other politicians also reacted. BSP, which has consistently opposed military assistance to Kyiv, said the visit looked less like an effort for peace and more like a politically timed foreign policy demonstration in the middle of an election campaign.
Its newly elected leader Krum Zarkov went further, calling the signing of a long-term security and defence agreement by a caretaker cabinet with a sitting parliament “an act of supreme political irresponsibility”, arguing that such a commitment should ultimately be subject to parliamentary approval.
Yet the deeper political significance lies in how clearly the episode revives the long-running debate over Radev’s own worldview.
His Russophile reflexes were already a defining feature of his presidency. The most visible example came during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Sofia in July 2023, when the two entered into an unusually direct clash, with the Ukrainian president openly confronting Radev’s position that aid to Kyiv only makes the war last longer.
That tension later deepened when Radev described Ukraine’s counteroffensive as its “most serious strategic mistake”, prompting a sharp reaction from Kyiv and reinforcing perceptions among pro-European voters that his reading of the war diverges sharply from the mainstream EU line.
His latest comments on energy and geopolitics suggest that this thinking remains unchanged.
Radev has argued that Bulgaria should not deny its own history, geography and economic realities, pointing specifically to the logic of importing cheaper oil across the Black Sea rather than relying on more distant supplies passing through costly and risky straits.
He has also criticised what he called the “self-destructive” energy policies associated with the Green Deal and the closure of nuclear capacity, presenting economic pragmatism as preferable to ideology.
“It is time to decide what we will develop: ideology or a prosperous economy. I choose pragmatism,” he said.
The line fits squarely into the political space his campaign is now trying to consolidate: pro-EU in formal alignment, sceptical of ideological foreign policy, and deeply sensitive to the economic consequences of sanctions, energy transition and prolonged military commitments.
Why the Kyiv visit matters
Gurov’s visit has effectively turned foreign policy into a proxy debate over what a Radev-led Bulgaria would look like after 19 April: a country still anchored in the EU and NATO, but dovish on Ukraine, more openly critical of Brussels orthodoxy on energy, and more willing to frame Russia not as an enemy but as part of Bulgaria’s historical and economic reality.
Radev’s tactics ahead of the election were to avoid confrontation, hoping to attract voters across party lines and geopolitical divisions. However, Gurov’s Ukraine visit took him by surprise. Former Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow Ilian Vassilev argued that his outburst suggest Radev may be squandering what he described as a once-in-a-political-lifetime opportunity, as the former president’s attempt to balance Europeanism, Atlanticism and Russophile reflexes is becoming increasingly untenable in a polarised wartime environment.
April forecast: exit Orbán, enters Radev, its Bulgarian edition
Caption: Bulgarian caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov (left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their joint press conference in Kyiv, 30 March 2026. / Bulgarian Government Press Office
Updated: March 31, 2026 - 17:28
