Vasil Aleksandrov Terziev

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 father – a State Security staff officer. His father, Aleksandar Vasilev Terziev, was a staff member of the scientific and technical intelligence of State Security's First Main Directorate. The Dossier Commission's decisions on the agent code-named "Egorov" (Petko Tanev Dimitrov, recruited in 1983) list him as the agent's case officer: "Case officers: Capt. Aleksandar Vasilev Terziev" (our translation). The journalist Hristo Hristov (desebg.com), who researches the State Security archives, writes from the documents that the father "was working at the time as a staff member, an officer with the rank of captain, in the scientific and technical intelligence directorate" and that his name appears in two agent files (our translation). — Dossier Commission, Decision No. 2-282 of 08.01.2014, desebg.com, 10.10.2023
• His grandfather – a State Security general. His paternal grandfather, Lieutenant General Vasil Pavlov Terziev, headed State Security's Third Directorate (military counter-intelligence). In August 2023 the BGNES agency published a top-secret report from the State Security archive, drawn up and signed by him in early 1969, on counter-intelligence control over the Bulgarian units that took part in crushing the Prague Spring. According to BGNES: "From 1952 to 1972 he was the permanent head of the Third Directorate of State Security – military counter-intelligence" (our translation). — BGNES, reprinted by desebg.com, 14.08.2023
• Pavel Terziev – declared by the Dossier Commission. Pavel Todorov Terziev (born 1949 in Plovdiv), whom the media call Vasil Terziev's uncle, was declared by the Dossier Commission in Decision No. 127 of 27.04.2010 (National Guard Service) as a State Security officer from 1973; lastly, "by order No. 1718 of 26.05.1989 he was reappointed head of section in the Security and Protection Directorate" (our translation). According to Weekend (reprinted by Bairak, citing Metodi Andreev), he is the son of the grandfather's brother, Lieutenant General Todor Pavlov Terziev, who "in 1952–1976 headed the Fourth Directorate – the scientific and technical intelligence of State Security" (our translation). — Dossier Commission, Decision No. 127 of 27.04.2010, Bairak (after Weekend), 08.07.2023
• His mother and maternal grandfather (claims). Metodi Andreev, the first chairman of the dossier commission and a critic of Terziev's candidacy in 2023, told BGNES, citing former State Security officers, that Terziev's mother was "a long-serving cadre – an officer in Department 06 of the First Main Directorate of State Security" and that his maternal grandfather "was a career officer of the Interior Ministry – Vidin" (our translation). As of 18.10.2026 we have not found a Dossier Commission document on them. — Epicenter (after BGNES), 07.08.2023
• A relative of Petar Mladenov. In October 2023 Terziev confirmed that he is a relative of Petar Mladenov – foreign minister under Todor Zhivkov and the last communist head of state: "I don't know which cousin of my grandfather's he is…" (our translation). — Tribune.bg, 15.10.2023
• His response. In his first interview as a mayoral candidate (Nova TV, 28.06.2023) Terziev condemned the communist regime's repression: "This is an extremely great crime. To wipe out tens of thousands of people" (our translation). According to Radio Free Europe he denied that there is anything in his relatives' State Security work to be ashamed of, and said he did not know his grandfather well. According to desebg.com he refused to give journalists access to the archive documents on his relatives. — Radio Free Europe, 28.06.2023, desebg.com, 10.10.2023

Corruption and scandals

• Deputy mayor Barbutov, 2025. In June 2025 Sofia deputy mayor Nikola Barbutov (from the quota of We Continue the Change) was charged with offering a bribe and taking part in a criminal group, and remanded in custody. The investigation began after the district mayors of Lyulin and Mladost and two municipal councillors left the party over "corrupt pressure". According to the investigators, a scheme had been set up for "kickbacks" of 6% of the value of public contracts (our translation). According to Mediapool, the scandal led to the resignation of Kiril Petkov as co-chair of the party. As of 18.10.2026 we have not checked the outcome of the case. — Mediapool, 26.06.2025
• The Barbutov case: indictment and court path. On 14.11.2025 the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office filed with the Sofia City Court an indictment against Nikola Barbutov, the businessman Petar Rafailov, Sonya Klisurska and Rositsa Pandova, deputy mayor of Lyulin district. The four were sent to trial for a total of eight offences. According to the prosecution, Barbutov, Rafailov and Klisurska are charged with taking part in an organised criminal group aimed at offences in office and bribes in the period from February 2025 to 24 June. The Sofia City Court later returned the indictment to the prosecution, with judge Petya Krancheva calling its allegations "decorative" (our translation). On 24.10.2026 the Sofia Court of Appeal set that ruling aside, held that the act contains no violations preventing the case from proceeding on the merits, and wrote that the first court "unlawfully interfered in the sovereign activity of the prosecutor" (our translation). The ruling is final. — BTA, 14.11.2025, Ruse.news, 24.10.2026