site.btaPresident Radev Tests Negative for COVID-19 upon Return from Estonia

October 21 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev has tested negative for COVID-19, his press secretariat said Wednesday. He was tested Tuesday upon returning from Estonia, where he led a Bulgarian delegation to a virtual summit of the Three Seas Initiative, hosted by the Estonian President.

The President's press secretariat specified that this is Radev's second negative test result for coronavirus on two consecutive days (he was tested at the start of his official visit to Estonia on Monday) and his third since October 13, the day before his visit to Greece.

On Tuesday, the President's press secretariat reported that Radev cut short his visit to Estonia due to "the complicated coronavirus situation" and "the impossibility to carry out all the elements planned for the visit's agenda". Later in the day, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaidat wrote in a Facebook post that the bilateral part of Radev's visit had to be called off as the Bulgarian head of State had been in contact with a person who later tested positive for coronavirus.

Also on Tuesday, Health Minister Kostadin Angelov told reporters that the Air Force chief, Major Gen. Dimiter Petrov, had tested positive for coronavirus on October 18, two days after he and President Radev were in contact. The head of State was informed of Gen. Petrov's test result on Sunday, Angelov said.

In a second press release on Tuesday, Radev's press secretariat said the head of State had not been in contact with a person who at the time in question (October 16) had tested positive for coronavirus.

Approached for comment upon his return from Estonia on Tuesday, Radev said: "I want to thank my well-wishers in Bulgaria who, deeply concerned about my and my counterparts' health and about my international appearances, were too eager to share behind my back their version about contact with COVID-19. I consider this an example of an active measure [an act of the special services, intelligence and counter-intelligence aimed at achieving certain objectives]."

Reacting to Radev's statement, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Wednesday said that the Government has done everything necessary in support of the Three Seas Initiative. "I have tasked the State Agency for National Security and the State Intelligence Agency with checking who are these 'well-wishers', who want to counter the actions of the Government and the President and to hinder something so important for Bulgaria," Borissov said. "If someone has underestimated the importance of quarantine, that is not our problem," he added, and expressed hope that there will be no more speculations on the matter. NV, RY/DS

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