Sofia Echo
March 1, 2022

Bulgaria’s Parliament votes in new Defence Minister after Ukraine row

At the close of a debate lasting close to three hours on March 1, Bulgaria’s National Assembly voted in Dragomir Zakov, until now the country’s permanent representative to Nato, to replace Stefan Yanev as Defence Minister.

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Yanev was ousted from the defence portfolio after publicly straying from government policy on the war on Ukraine by Russian military forces acting on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin….

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The proceedings of the special sitting of the National Assembly to vote on the change to the Cabinet was delayed because Zakov had to arrive from Brussels to be admitted to the House and, at the close of proceedings, to be sworn in.

Petkov said that Zakov had 20 years’ experience in the field of international security.

Zakov graduated in international economic relations at the University of National and World Economy, from 2004 to 2008 was a member of the Bulgarian delegation to Nato and was a member of Bulgaria’s mission to the UN. He became Bulgaria’s permanent representative to Nato in 2019.