Rumen Radev,—the eighth in five years—and future prime minister of the poorest country in the EU, has made it clear on several occasions that he opposes maintaining European military aid to Ukraine and that he advocates reestablishing relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a position that completely clashes with that of Brussels. , even before knowing the final result which, with 98% of the votes counted, gives him a sufficient majority to form a Government alone.
The 62-year-old former commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Air Force stated that he hopes that Brussels will now act more pragmatically with regard to Russia. “Ask President (French, Emmanuel) Macron, the Prime Minister of Belgium or other European leaders, including (former) Chancellor (German Angela) Merkel, who said months ago that this dialogue (with the Kremlin) must be resumed,” Radev remarked.
“Not only because of the new security architecture in Europe, which is inevitable and for which we must work, but because, if we want Europe to have true strategic autonomy, it must seriously reflect, in this increasingly serious crisis, on how it will guarantee its resources,” he detailed, alluding to the energy crisis derived from the conflict in the Middle East.
Speeches like that have led some to consider Radev a new (still Hungarian Prime Minister, who just lost his own election): a Trojan horse fed by Russia within the EU to erode the foundations of the Union from within. Various analysts, however, reject that comparison.
Radev, president of Bulgaria since 2017, resigned from that position just three months ago to run in the legislative elections, with the aim of continuing to lead the country from the position of prime minister. To this end, he created a coalition of small leftist formations called Progressive Bulgaria. He did so a few months before the end of his second term, and thus attempted to capitalize on the discontent of a citizenry fed up with the successive events that have arisen in recent years and of this country of 6.5 million inhabitants.
Despite the symbolic position he then held as president, Radev earned a strong reputation among the thousands of protesters who caused the resignation of the Government in December 2025, after the fall of the communist regime in the late 1980s.
To expand his social support, the leader of Progressive Bulgaria has balanced between Brussels and Moscow. “He supports Bulgaria’s membership in the EU, but believes that the community bloc needs pragmatism and that it has tried to be a leader in a world without rules,” says Bulgarian journalist Vladimir Mitev.
“In his opinion, the EU needs more industrialization and security; and both must be achieved through a better relationship with Russia,” continues the communicator, skeptical about the figure of the winner of the elections: “Radev’s rise is an attempt by the Bulgarian oligarchy to maintain control over the power resources that provide income, in a changing international context where sanctions against Russia seem to weaken after the start of the American-Israeli war against Iran,” he interprets.
Radev assured, in a television interview before the elections, that if he won, Bulgaria would not, which partly deflates the similarities with the Hungarian Viktor Orbán. “The Orbán phenomenon cannot be repeated in another country, since it appeared under special and unique conditions,” says Mitev, who believes that Radev will oppose in the European institutions only some policies, such as the review of the conditions for starting his entry into the community family.
Mitev emphasizes that Bulgaria does not have an alternative economic source beyond Western Europe, while Hungary has attracted significant American and Chinese investments. “If an Orbán-type regime appears in Bulgaria, I hope it will be soft, without prejudices at the European level and with an exclusive orientation towards the interior of the country,” he insists.
Despite the comparisons with Orbán in the media, political scientist Gergana Stefana also dismisses them. “Although he has adopted unconventional positions on certain European issues, such as the war in Ukraine, nuclear energy or the shipment of weapons to Ukraine, Radev has never resorted to the veto in decision-making processes; he has limited himself to suggesting that possibility, while his representatives have consistently voted in line with the mainstream [la opinión general] European”, emphasizes the expert, specialized in Security and the fight against Radicalization and Terrorism.
Stefana emphasizes that the Sofia authorities have shown “more of a behavior of conditional conformism, in which a critical public stance coexists with a real adaptation to the European consensus.” And he specifies: “Part of this rhetoric responds to a strategy of internal mobilization and preparation of the electoral terrain, in a context of growing social unrest in recent years.”
This discontent is linked to the effects that Bulgarians perceive as negative of: inflationary pressure (rise in prices) and increased public spending due to support for Ukraine; and is accentuated by expectations regarding accession to the euro zone, which it entered in January.
“The most likely strategy [de Radev] “It will involve positioning Bulgaria as a balancing actor between East and West, taking advantage of its geostrategic location,” predicts Stefanova, who emphasizes that the five interim governments appointed by Radev when he was president “do not show a homogeneous anti-European line, but they do outline a trend towards a more sovereign and conditional participation within the framework of the EU’s common foreign policy.”
Of those governments, the first maintained pro-European positions and the sovereignty of Ukraine. But after the Russian invasion in February 2022, Bulgaria began to place much greater emphasis on national interest, energy security, managing the effects of sanctions and limiting the risks derived from war.
“This does not amount to an open ‘orbanization’, since Bulgaria does not abandon the sanctions framework or reject its Euro-Atlantic membership, but it does allow Radev to be described as a leader who seeks a more reserved and nationally filtered version of European solidarity,” points out the political scientist, who believes that the former president, due to his professional military profile, will be firm on sensitive issues such as historical memory and national identity.
