Radostin Petev Vasilev

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 22.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Russia

• Calls for a review of the sanctions against Russia. During the presidential campaign he told bTV Novinite that Europe should review the sanctions against Russia. In his view Bulgaria should acquire the Lukoil refinery and negotiate the return of Russian oil and gas to the continent. He calls Donald Trump the biggest Putinist. — bTV Novinite, 12 October 2026
• МЕЧ and the war in Ukraine. In an interview with BNR, relayed by Trud, he said the МЕЧ group would abstain on votes for military aid to Ukraine, though not on humanitarian aid, and that Bulgaria should run Lukoil Neftochim. The party's programme calls for full neutrality and an end to such aid. Svobodna Evropa and Standart describe the party as pro-Russian on the war, while he calls it pro-Bulgarian and centrist. — Trud, 18 February 2025

Corruption and scandals

• Dispute over the disbanding of the МЕЧ group. In March 2025 the Speaker of the National Assembly, Natalia Kiselova, announced the disbanding of the МЕЧ group, and the party refused to recognise it, Sega writes. Vasilev responded with civil disobedience, threatened Boyko Borisov that his house would burn, and accused Kiselova of pressure. He was removed as deputy speaker. — Sega, 12 March 2025
• Leaves the PP-DB group after a recording. On 26.05.2023 he left the PP-DB parliamentary group after circulating a recording that he said came from the PP national council, bTV Sport writes. Kiril Petkov says Vasilev recorded politicians. He later founded МЕЧ. — bTV Sport, 28 October 2024
• ITN withdraws him from the ministerial post. ITN leader Slavi Trifonov announced that Vasilev would be withdrawn as sports minister. Sportal.bg reports his conflict with sports federations and cites a complaint by a manager who says he told her that all of it was his. He left ITN and stayed in the cabinet until 02.08.2022. — Sportal.bg, 8 June 2022
• Mutual corruption accusations with Krasen Kralev. As sports minister he accused his predecessor Krasen Kralev (GERB) of diverting millions. Kralev, his political opponent, returned the accusations over the refurbishment of several sports halls, Marica recounts. A dispute with Iliana Raeva is added to this. The article reports no court case or conviction in either direction. — Marica, 28 October 2024
• Former CSKA officials accuse him over transfer money. Former CSKA officials accuse him, Marica writes, of having put money from Aleksandar Tonev's transfer to Poland into his own account when he left after 2008. He replies that he withheld what the club owed him. Legal action was threatened, but nothing came of it. Another source adds that unfavourable contracts under him drove the team into insolvency. There is no record of a court case or charge. — Marica, 28 October 2024
• Anti-corruption commission check on a car, according to Koltuklieva. Koltuklieva, an open critic of Vasilev, claims in a statement made in a dispute over judicial reform that the anti-corruption commission (КПКОНПИ) is checking a car he drove as minister from January 2022. According to her, the car passed through three companies, and there was a suspicious deal between a company of a friend of his and one of his father's. She also says complaints have been filed against him. No result of the check and no charge have been found. — Dnes+, 1 April 2023
• His father Petyo – lawyer of FC Arda, according to Koltuklieva. The political critic Koltuklieva claims that he and his father provided legal services to FC Arda, backed by Fuat Güven, whom she describes as close to the DPS. According to her, the two were also advisers in the Council of Ministers to Deputy Prime Minister Rumyana Bachvarova (GERB). The period cannot be established from the excerpt read. The link with the club is confirmed by a 2019 BNR quote carried by bgsniper.com. There is no information about sanctions. — 5gmedia.bg, 1 December 2022