Provoked by Borisov’s remarks, the diplomatic mission sent an official statement to the media “in response to recent statements by Mr Boyko Borisov, chairman of the GERB party and member of the Bulgarian National Assembly, regarding his talks with former UK Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron (2023-2024) on the issue of sanctions.”

In its statement, the embassy reminded Borisov that the conditions for lifting sanctions “do not allow for negotiations between governments.”
“Information about the procedure for requesting the lifting of sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom is publicly available on gov.uk, and these guidelines do not envisage intergovernmental negotiations. No such request has been submitted on behalf of any Bulgarian citizen included in the UK’s Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions regime list,” the British Embassy wrote.

“All sanctions regimes introduced by the United Kingdom have specific purposes defined in the relevant legislation. The purpose of the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions regime is to prevent and combat serious cases of corruption. The sanctions remain in force,” the British mission in Sofia further stated.

Earlier that day, GERB leader Boyko Borisov told reporters: “I personally negotiated with the Foreign Minister, with David Cameron, when he was here, to have the ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions lifted,” in response to a journalist’s question about whether Maria Gabriel had negotiated with the United Kingdom for the removal of Delyan Peevski, the corruption-sanctioned leader of DPS-New Beginning, from the sanctions list.

Information about correspondence between Gabriel and the British government was circulated a few days earlier by “Yes, Bulgaria.” “I don’t know about Maria Gabriel, but I personally negotiated,” Borisov said.

He claimed that Peevski had been “unjustly” included in the “Magnitsky” list and stressed that the DPS-NN leader “did not sell passports.” In 2021, after Peevski was sanctioned under the U.S. Magnitsky Act, a scandal erupted over so-called “golden passports”, the granting of Bulgarian citizenship to foreign investors. In the official U.S. statement announcing the sanctions, among other accusations, Peevski was alleged to have participated in corruption schemes involving Bulgarian citizenship.
At the beginning of last year, yet another parliamentary inquiry committee was formed to investigate the “golden passports” trade, initiated in Parliament personally by Peevski.

Asked who had sold Bulgarian citizenship, Borisov briefly replied, “Whoever sold it is already in prison.”

“I was involved when the sanctions were imposed. When they came out, I was at the U.S. Embassy with the ambassador and Jim O’Brien. I know everything about these sanctions. Moreover, I’ve spoken with many partner services on this topic. There’s an even bigger question about how billions of dollars left the refinery and went toward Russia. That is currently under investigation,” Borisov said.
He added that he had repeatedly discussed lifting the sanctions on Delyan Peevski during the coalition period ("the assembly") with Kiril Petkov, Assen Vassilev, and Hristo Ivanov. “They cooperated to the maximum with all means,” he said.

Borissov also commented on information published by bird.bg that his daughter had acquired a stake in a construction company at a suspiciously low price. “It’s not my business. I’m not interested. If she took part in a public tender, state, municipal, or EU-funded, then I’ll comment,” Borissov said.

In February 2025, Veneta Borisova became the owner of 19.35% of the capital of the company Elit Stil Engineering. The company’s total capital is 1,240 leva, meaning her 19.35% share equals exactly 240 leva, a legal transaction in itself. However, the company holds a significant asset, a property of 8.6 decares in the Pancharevo area and a renewed building permit issued last year.

REBUTTAL

Speaking to journalists in Parliament, PP-DB co-chair Asen Vasilev said Borisov’s claim that he, together with Kiril Petkov and Hristo Ivanov, had negotiated to lift Peevski’s sanctions was “an absolute lie.” He recalled that in 2021, as caretaker minister, he had proposed to the Council of Ministers that Bulgaria expand its own sanctions to protect the Bulgarian financial system.

“The sanctions are absolutely justified, and Bulgaria is the only country where people under the ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions have not been investigated or convicted. In all other countries where there are sanctioned individuals, they are in prison,” Vasilev added.

In a Facebook post, former “Yes, Bulgaria” chairman Hristo Ivanov also refuted Borissov’s statements. He wrote that he had never assisted in lifting either U.S. or UK sanctions on Peevski.

“Borisov and Peevski have never had any limitations related to basic human decency, shamelessly abusing baseless lies to smear and silence their opponents. But the course of events from 2022 to 2024 confirms my words for anyone actually interested in the truth,” Ivanov wrote.
He accused Borisov of having “cemented himself into this status quo like a maiden in a bridge,” and said that whenever Borisov had the opportunity to distance himself from Peevski, he instead reaffirmed “his total devotion and dependence on the corrupt model of state capture of Bulgarian institutions, a model now associated almost exclusively with Delyan Peevski.”