„I am surprised from this extremely nervous, I would say aggressive reaction of the head of state”, said in the show “Face to Face” Rosen Plevneliev, President of Bulgaria in the period 2012-2017.
After the incident with the death of two pilots, Plevneliev demanded the resignations of Air Force Commander Major General Dimitar Petrov and Brigadier General Nikolay Rusev, commander of the 3rd Air Base.
In response, Rumen Radev stated: “When Peevski and Plevneliev give as much for Bulgaria as they gave Gen. Petrov and Gen. Rusev, not for his business. When Peevski and Plevneliev risked their lives for Bulgaria as much as Gen. Petrov and Gen. Rusev, then ask for their resignations."
„If I look at the facts – three years, three crashes, three deaths. Has anyone taken responsibility – only the pilots. Anyone else? And will it happen again now – we will smear him, we will hang him and then the pilot is to blame”, said Rosen Plevneliev.
In his words, that is why he opposes the system in the Air Force, which is not only from the last three years. In this connection, he told for the first time something that happened during the time he was president.
„During my first months as head of state, there was an exercise at the Plovdiv base. The MiG-29 took off and caught fire on takeoff. The pilots in a fantastic way managed to direct the machine not to the nearby village, but to the side and ejected. They remained alive," said Rosen Plevneliev.
„I called right away and told the Secretary of Defense and the Chief of the Air Force at the time – gen. Anyu Angelov and Gen. Konstantin Popov – please come out, explain to the Bulgarian people what exactly happened. What happened – gen. Popov and Gen. Angelov told me that they do not want such a press conference. The reason - the then deputy chief of the Air Force and head of the exercise that caught fire this plane, Gen. Rumen Radev. He did not give an explanation, Plevneliev also said.
„This approach has been around since then – when it's good, we collect the laurels, and when there are problems, we transfer them to another chapter, he added.
„If there are so many system errors all the time, it is not only the pilots who are to blame. If someone makes you do complex maneuvers in the air at low altitude, it's not only the pilot's fault”, Plevneliev believes.
He again demanded that the head of training and his immediate superior be removed. However, Rosen Plevneliev assumed that this will not happen.