Bulgarian people

Elena Ficherova, head of the cabinet of Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov, has applied for dismissal, the ministry said.

"The act is motivated by the desire not to cause negatives for the political cabinet. Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov has granted the request. The order comes into force today," the statement said.

"During the tenure of the caretaker government, when the legislature is not working, we see attempts by the prosecutor's office to openly interfere in the work of the executive branch," caretaker cabinet spokesman Anton Kutev said at a briefing at the Council of Ministers "in connection with the activity of the prosecutor's office in recent days."

Across Bulgaria, sirens will sound for two minutes at noon on 2 June 2021 in an annual custom honouring the memory of revolutionary, poet and rebel Hristo Botev, who died in 1876 in the struggle against Ottoman rule, as well as in tribute to all who died for the freedom of Bulgaria.

Bulgarian MEPs from former prime minister Boyko Borissov's GERB party sent a letter addressed to all groups in the European Parliament, criticising the actions of the caretaker government, claiming it was "nominated by pro-Kremlin President Rumen Radev."

Sofia Pride parade in the Bulgarian capital in June 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

The men appeared to be connected with the far-right Bulgarian National Union party and Lukovmarch, an annual event in commemoration of WWII general Hristo Lukov, often criticised for providing a forum for neo-Nazis to gather.

President Rumen Radev had not set foot at the  European Council since 2017and now found out that he had to watch his step in Brussels. His reflexes of  a soldier put him on the lookout because former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov had planted mines that could explode all of a sudden.

The head of state Rumen Radev signed a decree on the proposal of the Council of Ministers for the dismissal of Dimitar Georgiev from the post of chairman of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the press office of the head of state announced.

"I'm planning to return to Bulgaria during or after the early parliamentary elections on July 11," announced former gambling boss Vasil Bozhkov in an online interview for the "The Alternative" talk show.

In his first interview since the appointment of a caretaker cabinet, President Rumen Radev expressed his conviction that "the statehood will be restored" despite "the bombs planted by the government of Boyko Borissov."

He expressed his concern that a third parliamentary election could be held this year.

The Council of Ministers' proposal to President Rumen Radev to relieve Chief Commissioner Ivaylo Ivanov of his responsibilities as Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, has been made because of Ivanov's violation of core principles of the Interior Ministry's work in the form of failure to respect and guarantee citizens' rights, freedoms and dignity, as well as of lack of objectivity and e