Stefan Dinchev Yanev (; born 1 March 1960) is a retired Bulgarian brigade general and politician who served as

Prime Minister of Bulgaria The Prime Minister of Bulgaria () is the head of government of Bulgaria. They are oftentimes the leader of a political coalition in the Bulgarian parliament, known as the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unica ...

in 2021, leading a

caretaker government A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it co ...

. A

political independent An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

, he also served as

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in 2017 and from 2021 to 2022. Yanev later founded the Bulgarian Rise party and served as Member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 2022 to 2023.

Early life

He was born on 1 March 1960 in the Popovitsa,

Plovdiv Province Plovdiv Province (: ''Oblast Plovdiv'', former name okrug, Plovdiv okrug) is a provinces of Bulgaria, province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities (общини, ''obshtini'', sing. общинa, ''obshtina'') on a territ ...

. In 1979, he graduated from the Technical High School of Electrical Engineering in Plovdiv. Yanev graduated from the Georgy Dimitrov national military artillery school in

Shumen Shumen (, also Romanization of Bulgarian, romanized as ''Shoumen'' or ''Šumen'', ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province. Etymology The city ...

(now a faculty of the

Vasil Levski National Military University The Vasil Levski National Military University () is Bulgaria's national military academy. History Founded in 1878 as a military school in Plovdiv, it was moved to Sofia the same year. On 19 April 1924, it was promoted to university status; in ...

) and began building a career in the army in 1983, when he was appointed commander of an artillery platoon in Asenovgrad. During 1993 - 1996, he received education in

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 ...

Military career

Yanev was a commander of

rocket artillery Rocket artillery is artillery that uses rockets as the projectile. The use of rocket artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used (albeit mostly as a psychological weapon). Fire arrows were also used in mult ...

division in the 4th Army Artillery Regiment in

Asenovgrad Asenovgrad ( ) is a town in central southern Bulgaria, part of Plovdiv Province. It is the largest town in Bulgaria that is not a province center. Previously known as ''Stanimaka'' (; ), it was renamed in 1934 after the 13th-century tsar Ivan A ...

(1993–1996). Between 1996 and 1998 he was a senior expert in the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Defense. He worked as an analysis officer at the PfP Coordination Group's Planning and Programming Department in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(1998–2000). From 2000 to 2001 he was a senior assistant chief in the Strategic Planning Department of the General Staff of the

Bulgarian Army 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 ...

. Between 2001 and 2002 he was a state expert in the Euro-Atlantic Integration Directorate in the Ministry of Defense.Андон Дончев, ''Генералите от ракетните войски и артилерия на сухопътните войски на България'', Изд. Авангард Прима, 2018, ISBN 9786192391089, с. 326. Until 2004 he was head of a department in the Euro-Atlantic Integration Directorate in the Ministry of Defense. Yanev graduated from the

National Defense University National Defence (or Defense) University (or College) may refer to: :''Alphabetical by country'' University * Marshal Fahim National Defense University, Afghanistan * National Defense University (Azerbaijan) * People's Liberation Army National Defe ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. From 2005 to 2007, he was Head of the Transformation Department at the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Counter-Terrorism Center in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. From 2007–2010, he was the Director of the Defense Policy Directorate at the Ministry of Defense. On 1 July 2009, he was appointed Director of the Security and Defense Policy Directorate and awarded the rank of Brigadier General. On 3 May 2010 he was appointed Director of the Defense Policy Directorate, effective as of 25 May On 24 February 2011 he was relieved of his post, serving later as the

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. On 2 May 2014, he became the head of the

. He was relieved on the ninth of the following month, as well as dismissed from military service, as of 9 June 2014.

Political career

From 27 January to 4 May 2017 he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria in the caretaker government of

Ognyan Gerdzhikov Ognyan Stefanov Gerdzhikov (; born 19 March 1946) is a Bulgarian politician and jurist who served as the interim Prime Minister from 27 January 2017 to 4 May 2017, following the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the failure of Bulgar ...

, and subsequently Secretary of Security and Defense 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 ...

Prime Minister (2021)

He was appointed to the post of

by President

on 12 May 2021, succeeding

Boyko Borisov Boyko Metodiev Borisov (, born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria on three separate occasions, serving a total of 9 years between 2009 and 2021, making him the country's longest-serving post-communi ...

. He headed consequently two governments,

the first The First or The 1st may refer to: Arts and entertainment Albums * The 1st (album), ''The 1st'' (album), by Willow, 2017 * The First (Shinee album), ''The First'' (Shinee album), 2011 * The First (single album), by NCT Dream, 2017 Television * T ...

from May to September and the second from September to December. He was succeeded by

Kiril Petkov Kiril Petkov Petkov (; born 17 April 1980) is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur, who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from December 2021 to August 2022. He is the co-leader of We Continue the Change, a political party he ...

on 13 December 2021. Stefan Yanev is the first caretaker Prime Minister in Bulgarian history to stay on in that role at the head of two consecutive caretaker governments. He also became the first Prime Minister in modern Bulgarian history to serve as the head of government for two consecutive terms, albeit in a caretaker capacity.

Defence Minister (2022)

Yanev was dismissed from his post as Minister of Defense by Petkov, because the latter had introduced a political taboo on the use of Russian narratives, including the "special operation" label favoured by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

to refer to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

that escalated into full-scale war in 2022. Yanev, who declared following Putin that it is not "war" in Ukraine but a "

military operation A military operation (op) is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operati ...

", was dismissed on 1 March, a week after the start of the invasion.

Bulgarian Rise

After being ousted as defence minister, Yanev became critical of the government and founded his own party named Bulgarian Rise on 5 May. He also assumed the role as leader of the party.

Military ranks

* Lieutenant (1983) * Senior Lieutenant (1985) * Captain (1989) * Major (1994) * Lieutenant Colonel (1999) * Colonel (2004) * Brigadier General (2009)

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Yanev, Stefan 1960 births Living people Bulgarian conservatives Bulgarian engineers Bulgarian nationalists People from Plovdiv Province Deputy prime ministers of Bulgaria Prime ministers of Bulgaria Bulgarian generals 20th-century Bulgarian military personnel 21st-century Bulgarian military personnel Defence ministers of Bulgaria