Stefan Yanev (general)

Stefan Dinchev Yanev () is a Bulgarian Army officer, Brigade general, acting deputy prime minister, acting minister of defense and caretaker government Prime Minister of Bulgaria since 12 May 2021.
Biography.
He was born on 1 March 1960 in the Plovdiv village of Popovitsa. In 1979 he graduated from the Technical High School of Electrical Engineering in Plovdiv. Yanev graduated from the artillery military school in Shumen (now a faculty of the Vasil Levski National Military University) and began building a career in the army in 1983, when he was appointed commander of an artillery platoon in Asenovgrad.
He was a commander of rocket artillery division in the Fourth Army Artillery Regiment in Asenovgrad (1993-1996). Between 1996 and 1998 he was a senior expert in the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Defense. He worked as an analysis officer at the PfP Coordination Group's Planning and Programming Department in Belgium (1998-2000). From 2000 to 2001 he was a senior assistant chief in the Strategic Planning Department of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army. Between 2001 and 2002 he was a state expert in the Euro-Atlantic Integration Directorate in the Ministry of Defense. Until 2004 he was head of a department in the Euro-Atlantic Integration Directorate in the Ministry of Defense.
He graduated from the Military College at the National Military University in Washington, D.C., USA (2004-2005). From 2005 to 2007 he was Head of the Transformation Department at the NATO Counter-Terrorism Center in Ankara. Since 2007 and 2010 he has been the Director of the Defense Policy Directorate at the Ministry of Defense. On 1 July 2009 he was appointed Director of the Security and Defense Policy Directorate and awarded the rank of Brigadier General. On 3 May 2010 he was appointed Director of the Defense Policy Directorate as of 25 May 2010. On 24 February 2011 he was relieved of his post as Director of the Defense Policy Directorate. From 2011 to 2014 he was a military attache in the United States.
Since 2 May 2014 he was the head of the Vasil Levski National Military University. By Decree № 144 of 9 June 2014 Yanev was relieved of the post of Head of the National Military University "Vasil Levski" and of military service, as of 9 June 2014. From 27 January to 4 May 2017 he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria in the caretaker government of Ognyan Gerdzhikov, and subsequently Secretary of Security and Defense of President Rumen Radev.