Bulgaria appoints Atanas Krastin as new ambassador to Russia
Atanas Krastin will replace Boiko Kotsev as Bulgaria’s ambassador to Russia, with the presidential decree appointing Krastin published in the State Gazette on July 10.
Krastin’s appointment was first reported in February 2018, when local media said that Bulgarian President Roumen Radev asked the government to officially nominate Krastin for the job. At the time, Krastin was Radev’s foreign policy secretary.
Radev, Bulgaria’s former air force commander who was elected president on a socialist-led ticket in 2016, has repeatedly called for closer ties with Russia (traditionally, so have the socialists.) He has also criticised the current EU sanctions on Russia imposed over the annexation of Crimea.
The Cabinet gave its approval for Krastin’s appointment in April.
A graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the top school for diplomats in the former Soviet bloc, Krastin has previously served as Bulgaria’s general consul in Bavaria and Baden-Wurtemberg between 2006 and 2010, and later as general consul in Nis, Serbia in 2012-2016.
Krastin will replace Boiko Kotsev, who has served as Bulgaria’s ambassador in Moscow since 2012. Kotsev is expected to remain in Moscow, with the government nominating him as Bulgaria’s representative to the International Bank for Economic Co-operation board of directors.
(Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Photo: mfa.bg)
