President’s Security and Defence Secretary Stefan Yanev will be Bulgaria’s Caretaker Prime Minister

The President's Security and Defence Secretary Stefan Yanev will be the Prime Minister of Bulgaria's caretaker government until the snap elections on July 11.

President Rumen Radev has signed a decree to appoint the caretaker cabinet as of May 12, the Presidency announced on May 11.

Stefan Yanev, 61, was Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister in a caretaker government Radev appointed in 2017.

In 1979, he graduated from the Technical School of Electrical Engineering in Plovdiv.

From 1979 to 1983 he studied at the Higher National Military Artillery School "Georgi Dimitrov" in Shumen.

He was commander of an artillery platoon and battery (1983).

Between 1991 and 1993, he graduated from the Military Academy in Sofia.

Stefan Yanev was a commander of a division in the Fourth Artillery Regiment in Asenovgrad (1993-1996).

Between 1996 and 1998, he was a senior expert in the International Cooperation Directorate of the Ministry of Defence.

He worked as an analyst at the Planning and Programming Section at the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Partnership Coordination Cell (PCC) in Mons, Belgium (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.

Between 2001 and 2002, he was a state expert in the Euro-Atlantic Integration Directorate of the Ministry of Defence. Then, until 2004, he was head of a department in the Euro-Atlantic Integration Directorate of the Ministry of Defence.

He continued his education at the National War College of the National Defense University in Washington, DC, USA (2004-2005).

From 2005 to 2007, he was the Head of the Transformations Department at the NATO Center of Excellence Defense Against Terrorism, Ankara, Turkey.

From 2007 to 2010 he was the Director of the Defence Policy Directorate at the Ministry of Defence.

On July 1, 2009, he was appointed Director of the Security and Defence Policy Directorate and awarded the rank of Brigadier General.

On 3 May 2010, he was appointed Director of the Defence Policy Directorate. From 2011 to 2014 he was a military attache in the United States.

Since May 2, 2014, Brigadier General Stefan Yanev was the head of the Vasil Levski National Military University. By Decree № 144 of 9 June 2014, he was relieved of this post and of military service.

From January 27 to May 4, 2017, he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence in the caretaker government led by PM Ognyan Gerdzhikov, and subsequently was Secretary of Security and Defence of President Rumen Radev.

He is fluent in English, German and Russian. He is married and has two children.