The People's Representative from “Vazrazhdane“, elected with the votes of the Montana region, Petar Petrov, revealed a chronology of facts that seriously question the legality of the actions of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city in recent years, as well as the refusals of several successive ministers to order new inspections.
In a post on social networks, Petrov commented that in August and November 2021, permits for an extremely large amount of weapons were issued with unusual speed to persons posing as “environmentalists“ from the Petrohan region. The permits were issued at a time when Petko Shumanski was already the head of the Montana Regional Office, and the MP was adamant that such a volume of weapons could not be authorized without coordination with the director of the Montana Regional Office of the Ministry of Interior. In August 2021, this position was held by Krasimir Kirilov, currently the deputy director, and in November of the same year - Biser Yonchev. After his election as a MP in October 2022 and as a member of the Commission for Control over the Security Services and the Ministry of Interior, Petar Petrov initiated a full inspection by the “Internal Security“ of the activities of the Montana Regional Office of the Ministry of Interior for 2022. The inspection in late spring 2023. established violations in all areas, 17 disciplinary proceedings were initiated, and the director Biser Yonchev left the Ministry of Interior system in April 2023. His deputy Mariyan Bozhinov was subsequently appointed director, and Valeri Dimitrov was appointed regional governor. It was during this period, in May 2023, that the so-called “joint exercise“ was held in Montana between Ministry of Interior employees and the “environmentalists” in question, who, according to Petrov, were presented to the participating employees as a “secret special unit”.
The people's representative also recalls that the then Minister of Interior Kalin Stoyanov surprisingly stated from the parliamentary rostrum in response to his question on the subject that all 17 disciplinary proceedings had been terminated. At the beginning of 2024, Stoyanov officially refused Petar Petrov to order a new inspection of the Montana Regional Police Department for the previous year. In 2025, Petrov received a similar refusal from the current Minister of the Interior Daniel Mitov regarding the activities of the police in the Montana region for 2024, including a repeated request a month ago regarding an inspection of its activities for 2025.
“These are the facts - whoever wants to interpret them, let them be. I have not forgotten and let it be clear what is coming next week.“, Petar Petrov also wrote, making it clear that the topic of problems in the Montana police will continue in parliament and under the new caretaker government. He has already submitted a request to the Ministry of the Interior to provide full information about the activities of the “rangers“ on the territory of Montana district, as well as on the work of the directorate so far regarding the members of Kalushev's association. This data is to be discussed with the new acting Minister of Internal Affairs.