Major General Mikhail Dmitrov Popov (; born 23 December 1963) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n Major general and military leader who was the Commander of the Bulgarian Land Forces from 2017 to 2022.

Early life and career

He was born in

Sliven Sliven ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. It is situated in the Sliven Valley at the foothills of th ...

, in the south-eastern part of the

Bulgarian People's Republic The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; , NRB; ) was the official name of Bulgaria when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; ) together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agrarian ...

on 23 December 1963. He graduated from Dobri Chintulov High School in 1981 from which he joined the

Bulgarian People's Army The Bulgarian People's Army (, BNA) was the army of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. It comprised the Bulgarian Land Forces, Air Force and Air Defence, Navy and supporting arms. Bulgaria was one of the signatories of the Warsaw Pact. Along with ...

(BNA) shortly thereafter. In the 4 years that followed, he studied at the Vasil Levski Military All-Army University in

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo (, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. It is the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria. Often referred to as the "''City of the Tsars''", Velik ...

specializing in

Intelligence assessment Intelligence assessment, is a specific phase of the intelligence cycle which oversees the development of behavior forecasts or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on wide ranges of available overt and cover ...

before graduating in 1985. After graduating, he immediately became the commander of an intelligence platoon, a position he held for one year before serving in an intelligence company until 1988. 3 years after the fall of communism in Bulgaria, he joined the newly established

Bulgarian Armed Forces The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...

where he first served as a cadet in the

Georgi Rakovski Military Academy The Georgi Rakovski Military Academy (), based in Sofia, is Bulgaria's oldest military institution of higher education. It is named after Bulgarian revolutionary writer Georgi Sava Rakovski. History It was officially established on 1 March 1912 ...

Deployments and command positions

He continued his intelligence career in the armed forces, serving as a commander of a reconnaissance battalion before commanding an infantry battalion in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

in 2004. From 2005 to 2006, he studied at the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army staff college in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle postal address, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instru ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census ...

. Popov would later become the head of a Bulgarian contingent in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

in 2011. Popov had been the leader of many brigades including the 68th Special Forces brigade before being appointed as deputy commander of the Land Forces in 2015. He would serve in this position until becoming the commander of the Bulgarian Land Forces in April 2017 by order of President

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev (, born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who has been the President of Bulgaria since 2017. Radev previously served as higher commander of the Bulgarian Air Force. He won the 2016 Bulgarian p ...

. He was dismissed on 10 December 2022.

Awards

He was awarded the Polish Army Bronze Medal by Polish Minister of Defense

Jerzy Szmajdziński Jerzy Andrzej Szmajdziński (, 9 April 1952 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish politician who was a Deputy Marshal of Polish Sejm and previously served as Minister of Defence. He was a candidate for President of Poland in the 2010 election. Szm ...

in 2004, as well as a personal weapon by the Bulgarian Minister of Defense Nikolay Svinarov.

References

Bulgarian generals 1963 births Living people {{Bulgaria-bio-stub