Former Minister of Defense and leader of VMRO Krasimir Karakachanov said that the party supports Rumen Radev's formation "Progressive Bulgaria", but its leaders will not be on the lists for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“I said it very clearly two weeks ago - we support President Radev's formation, but we have not conducted any negotiations, conversations, or bargaining, as is typical in Bulgaria, for participation in lists“, said Karakachanov in an interview for the program "This Saturday and Sunday" on bTV.
The leader of VMRO emphasized that neither he nor other members of the party's leadership will be on the lists of „Progressive Bulgaria“.
„When you support another party and do not have a common registration, it is not right for the leaders of the supporting party to be on other lists. This is a matter of principle“, Karakachanov specified.
According to him, it is possible for individual representatives of VMRO to be invited at the local level.
„Wherever they locally judge that the people we have can be useful to them, they can invite them - either on lists, or in election headquarters, or as advocates or observers”, added the leader of VMRO.
Karakachanov announced that at the moment the participation of such candidates is being discussed only in two or three electoral districts.
The former Minister of Defense categorically denied that political negotiations for positions were conducted after the vote on 19 April.
According to him, support for Radev's formation is motivated by the dissatisfaction of VMRO with the political governance in recent years.
„The situation in the country is such that a large part of the people are looking for some kind of change. The question arises - who should we support, GERB and DPS or PP and DB. All of these were part of the combinations that governed us for the last five years“, said Karakachanov.
In the interview, he also criticized the country's current foreign policy.
„Bulgaria has emerged as the most toothless country - not in the European Union, but in the world. A country that does not protect its interests“, said Karakachanov.
He also criticized the decision to deploy tanker planes at Sofia Airport.
„If I were the Minister of Defense, I would not "I allowed them to land in Bulgaria at all because Bulgaria has no business in this conflict," said the former defense minister.