To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.

One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.

Rumen Radev, pro-Russia ex-pilot who wants to give Bulgaria wings © France 24

01:54

Issued on: 20/04/2026 - 12:15

Former fighter pilot Rumen Radev has vowed to lead Bulgaria out of a chronic political crisis, with his grouping winning Sunday's general election – the eighth in five years. The 62-year-old has presented himself as a defender of the poor of the EU's poorest country as he walks a tightrope on European issues. He has hailed the benefits Bulgaria has reaped from EU membership while calling for dialogue with Russia as its invasion of Ukraine rages into a fifth year of fighting.