Radev has encouraged Ukraine to sue for peace, does not support sending arms to Kyiv and says his insistence that Crimea is \u201cRussian\u201d simply reflects a strategic reality. He is also a critic of Sofia\u2019s accession to the euro this year, arguing the new currency has stoked inflation.<\/p>\n
In his remarks after voting on Sunday morning, Radev said the election was an opportunity to \u201ctake back\u201d the country from oligarchs, but also called for relations of \u201cmutual respect\u201d with Moscow, based on Russia\u2019s role in liberating Bulgaria from the Ottoman empire in 1878. \u00a0<\/p>\n
While these positions have helped him build up a base of support at home, he has avoided direct confrontation with the West and has generally fallen in step with the European mainstream when attending European Council meetings in Brussels.<\/p>\n
European funds are vital to the EU\u2019s poorest member country and Bulgarian leaders have traditionally avoided any provocative antics in Brussels in the style of outgoing Hungarian leader Viktor Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n
A senior EU diplomat said Radev was nowhere close to Orb\u00e1n as a disruptive force. They said Radev was in a \u201cmuch different league\u201d when it comes to his ability, and desire, to upend policy. He and others like Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico \u201cdon\u2019t come close [to Orb\u00e1n] in experience, tenacity, network and ideas,\u201d the diplomat added. <\/p>\n