Pencho Plamenov Milkov

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 18.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Communist Party and State Security

• His grandfather – deputy head of the militia in Ruse after 9 September 1944. A short biography in the reference book "Labour Glory of Bulgaria" (p. 423), quoted in 2019 by the political scientist Anton Todorov, says of Pencho Milkov from the village of Popovtsi, Gabrovo region (b. 1915): "After 9 September 1944 he was deputy regional head of the Interior Ministry in Ruse. In 1945–1952 he was successively secretary of the district, city and regional committees of the Communist Party in Ruse…" (our translation). Todorov and the site Frontalno identify him as the grandfather of the mayor, who bears the same name. The mayor himself called what was published during the campaign "claims and insinuations about my family" (interview with 24 Chasa of 5.11.2019, as reported by Frontalno; our translation). We have not seen the reference book; the quotation follows Todorov's publication. — Budnaera (after faktor.bg), Anton Todorov's post, 2019, Frontalno, 06.11.2019
• Frontalno: an archive document on killings without trial, 1944. In November 2019 the Ruse site Frontalno published three pages which it describes as a document from the Interior Ministry archive marked "Strictly confidential": a statement by the district militia chief Mihail Batanov to the secretary of the Communist Party's regional committee in Ruse. According to the site, the document and witness accounts show that Pencho Milkov senior was "a direct organiser of arrests and an executor of mass killings of citizens of Ruse without trial or sentence", including at the shooting in the Balyuv dol area near Strakhlevo on the night of 2–3 November 1944, and that he later "also became a State Security officer" (our translation). The site received the copy from a reader who is a descendant of a victim of the regime; the document has not been published by a state institution. We have not found a Dossier Commission decision on him. — Frontalno, 06.11.2019

Russia

• Observer at the Russian presidential election, 2018. As a BSP member of parliament, Milkov observed the Russian presidential election of 18.03.2018 in North Ossetia. He told the site region15.ru: "I can say with confidence that the election in the republic was clear, competent, transparent and clean" (our translation from Russian). The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) lists him in its database of politically biased election observers. — region15.ru, 19.03.2018, EPDE, biased observers database
• The Russian ambassador and the consulate in Ruse, 2021–2022. On 2.07.2021 the mayor met the Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova and proposed a Russian-language classroom at a Ruse school: "Ruse has traditions in studying the Russian language and culture, and the Russian community here is extremely active" (our translation). The ambassador hoped for an investor forum in Ruse for Russian entrepreneurs. After Bulgaria expelled the staff of the Russian consulate in Ruse in June 2022, Milkov wrote: "I categorically do not accept the expulsion of all staff of the consulate of the Russian Federation in Ruse. This is a destructive act" (our translation). — Utro Ruse, 02.07.2021, Utro Ruse, 30.06.2022

Corruption and scandals

• Two properties below market price, 2025. In February 2025 the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) reported that in June 2024 the mayor bought a 95.55 sq m flat and a parking space in Sofia from Aspen Invest OOD for 204,996 leva, while neighbours paid 400,945 and 420,503 leva for similar properties; a partner in the company is the son of a member of BSP's National Council. In November 2023 he received as a gift from his sister and her husband, co-owner of the building firm Extreme OOD, a 258.93 sq m maisonette in Ruse that had been bought from that firm below its tax valuation. In his declaration to the anti-corruption commission Milkov gave its size as 63 sq m. He replied: "As mayor I look people calmly in the eye, because I have not broken the law" (our translation), and said the error was technical and that he had filed a corrected declaration. As of 18.10.2026 we have not found a decision of the anti-corruption commission or a charge in the case. — Mediapool, 25.02.2025, Mediapool, 25.02.2025 (the ACF investigation)
• Ruse airport without a tender, 2023–2025. In January 2023 the municipality gave Ruse airport for free use for 10 years to the private company Airport Ruse OOD, set up a few days earlier, without a tender or competition. Its partners were the companies of Hristo Krusharski and Antoni Tarnitsov. According to the ACF's legal expert Denitsa Rukanova, "the contract with Airport Ruse OOD breaks at least three laws" (our translation). In February 2025, after the company had not met 4 of its 15 obligations, the mayor proposed extending the deadline; the municipal council rejected the proposal and decided to end the contract. — Radio Free Europe, 27.02.2025