Bulgaria's new president, Rumen Radev took his oath of office, preparing the way for him to formally take over the post from Rosen Plevneliev on Sunday. Radev, who is the country's fifth democratically elected president, was sworn in at a ceremony in Parliament yesterday together with Vice-president Iliana Yotova. Bulgaria's president-elect, seen as more sympathetic to Moscow than his predecessor, said yesterday that Donald Trump offers "hope" for an improvement in relations between Russia and the West.

"The crisis between NATO and the European Union on one side and Russia [on the other] is clear. More confrontation will not help its resolution. The Cold War is a sad experience of the past," said Radev.

"The US presidential election result and the new political climate in the world give hope that dialogue will resume soon," Radev, due to be inaugurated on Sunday, two days after Trump, told parliament. Russian President Vladimir Putin in November welcomed his victory and said he hoped for a "new impetus" in relations between the countries' "brotherly peoples."

The 53-year-old former chief of the Bulgarian Air Force defeated the ruling center-right party's candidate in a November election. His election also prompted center-right premier Boyko Borisov and his government to resign. Fresh elections are set to take place in the EU's poorest country in late March.