“I know about two exercises that took place in 2025 - in April and May. And I also know about the use of a drone a little later that year, but I don't know how we establish that there was a document in 2023“. This was commented on bTV by former Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry announced that the Ministry of Interior had conducted exercises jointly with employees of Ivaylo Kalushev's NGO in 2023.
The exercise was held on May 3, 2023 in an abandoned building in the city of Montana, and prior to that, contact had been made with representatives of the NGO to provide equipment.
The Ministry of Interior adds that these are the only documents for joint training with the National Agency for Control of Protected Areas that were found during an inspection at the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior Affairs - Montana.
„Let a normal minister enter the Ministry of Interior, let him get all the information, get the recordings from the cameras, let them show them to the public, let them get all the documents they want, they are looking for, and then I am ready to comment. I just hope that the fire that happened today in Vratsa is not related to this, because I have received information that many documents are starting to leave various institutions and traces are being erased“, he said.
When asked how he knew that there were two exercises in 2025, he replied „I was a minister for 10 months, I know 50 thousand people in the system who trust me. They trust me and know me. So, I know a lot of things“, Demerdzhiev pointed out.
So what was done during these exercises, the former minister said: “Let those who did them and those who managed the Ministry of Interior explain – they will tell you, if they have the courage to tell you, of course, instead of talking about others, they will tell about themselves“.
Whether during his time permits for weapons were issued to a group, Demerdzhiev pointed out:
“I was not aware, but of all the permits, the only one that came up during my time was for a pistol, which was issued by Sofia – nothing atypical, abnormal. So, the powers are with the head of the regional administration, I have never been interested and have never had any interest or contact with a chief to issue or not issue a weapon permit. I have always believed that everyone in the system should exercise their powers alone and independently“
The former minister commented that he had not received any signals about the activities of the group around Ivaylo Kalushev.
„Not everything that comes into the system is reported to the minister. I have not received such signals, they have been received on other occasions. Each one of them is checked or investigated, depending on the signal, but on this occasion – no“, Demerdzhiev pointed out.
According to him, one should not bring out one version and try to close the case with it.
„Everything must be checked carefully. It is a fact that irregular things happened there, but it must be checked whether they are not in much more directions than what is currently being commented on. It is only one aspect of what probably happened there. There is one indisputable thing that must be understood. These people have obviously done something wrong there in connection with the many signals that have been received, and here the prosecutor's office owes a very serious explanation of how it worked on these files, why it worked like this, why it did not reach the end, why it did not stop these actions that we are witnessing“, the former minister also stated.
“This case must be opened, the whole truth must reach the public and only then be closed“, he added.
“For me, the question remains open how the mayor of Gintsi got it so wrong that SANS employees were at the scene, given that he knows the people very well, he met them, he was a person of reference later, so such a version sounds unconvincing to me - that the mayor got it wrong. Rather, SANS owes answers, and many answers on this case. I don't know why my name was involved, but if the people who were involved in some names had done their job, at least three of these six people would have been found alive“, Ivan Demerdzhiev also stated.