Bulgaria's IntMin Chief Secretary Leaving Police System

Svetlozar Lazarov, the Interior Ministry's Chief Secretary in resignation, has told reporters he is leaving the ministry's system.

Lazarov, who has spent his entire political career in either police or intelligence structures, is waiting for Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to sign his resignation, a process delayed by the urgency of the secretary's last assignment. He has been actively coordinating the investigation into the murder of a 23-year-old student in Bulgaria's Veliko Tarnovo last week.

In his words quoted by the website Dnevnik.bg, Lazarov was "not pressured into stepping down".

PM Borisov demanded his resignation, alongside that of counter-intelligence head Vladimir Pisanchev, earlier this week after an argument with ex-Interior Minister Vuchkov (who insisted that the two be replaced) led to the latter's resignation.

The Prime Minister then explained he would ask both Lazarov and Pisanchev to resign to avoid speculation that he is protecting them as a result of "backroom games."