Georgi Gervanov Ananiev ( bg, Георги Герванов Ананиев; 12 April 1950 – 26 January 2021) was a Bulgarian politician who served as Minister of Defence in the

Kostov government The eighty-fourth cabinet of Bulgaria ruled from May 21, 1997 to July 24, 2001. The government was formed by the United Democratic Forces, an electoral alliance led by the Union of Democratic Forces, after they won a landslide victory in the 199 ...

between 1997 and 1999.

Life

Born in the village of

Kosacha Kosacha ( Bulgarian: Косача, also transliterated ''Kosača'') is a village in western Bulgaria. Its located in Oblast Pernik, Obshtina Kovachevci. Geography The village of Kosacha is located in a mountainous region, 16 km southwest ...

, near Radomir, Ananiev studied in a technical school of

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

and mechanotechnics in Pernik and graduated from the Mining and Geological Institute (Bulgarian: Минно-геоложки институт) in Sofia in 1974. He subsequently worked as an engineer for various companies. In the 1990s, he became a member of the UDF. In February 1997, Ananiev was appointed Minister of Defence in the

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

Stefan Sofiyanski Stefan Antonov Sofiyanski ( bg, Стефан Антонов Софиянски ) (born November 7, 1951) is a Bulgarian politician who served as interim Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1997 and was a three-term Mayor of Sofia. He was a leading membe ...

and retained his position following the formation of the Kostov cabinet. He is the first Bulgarian Minister of Defence to visit the Pentagon. In 1999, he was replaced by Boyko Noev as a government minister, but was appointed secretary of defense (an occupation in the presidency which had not existed before) of then President Petar Stoyanov. He died of COVID-19 during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria The COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bulgaria when the country's first ca ...

References

1950 births 2021 deaths Bulgarian engineers Government ministers of Bulgaria Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgaria) politicians People from Pernik Province Defence ministers of Bulgaria Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria {{Bulgaria-politician-stub