Sofia: Defence Minister Stefan Yanev has been asked to resign by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov after he caused outrage in the government by stating that the Russian invasion of Ukraine should not be called “war”.
Petkov on Monday said that he would propose Yanev’s sacking at the meeting of the centrist coalition government and the coalition partners have agreed to it.
“My defence minister cannot use the word operation instead of the word war. You cannot call it an operation when thousands of soldiers from the one and the other side are already killed,” Petkov said in a televised statement.
“It is not in Bulgaria’s interest to bow our heads”, Petkov said, alluding to a popular saying in Bulgarian that “a sword does not cut a bowed head”.
In a Facebook post late on Sunday, Yanev said that he was subjected to a targeted attack to bring in someone who would be more cooperative in promoting foreign interests in Bulgaria and this could put the country’s security at risk.
Refusing to step down, he wrote, “Don’t expect me to resign in this geopolitical situation.”
Petkov said that no minister in this government has the right to his foreign policy, especially on Facebook.
