One day after the United States sanctioned high-profile Bulgarians, businessman Vasil Bozhkov said that he was "the only one who has officially signaled the United States" and that "instead of considering the signal, the Americans have turned against him and imposed sanctions on him". In Vasil Bozhkov’s words, between 2014 and 2020, he was subject to extortion by Bulgaria’s former Premier Boyko Borissov and this country’s former Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov and added that only in the last three years of this period, he gave them more than EUR 30 million.

At a briefing, Bulgaria’s former Premier and leader of GERB party Boyko Borissov denied the allegations that GERB had received money from Vasil Bozhkov. Boyko Borissov added that he supported the U.S. actions and that Bulgaria was working on these topics for months.

The leader of "There is Such a People" party Slavi Trifonov wrote on Facebook: "Bulgaria’s civil society is the basis of yesterday's position of the United States. The Bulgarian society knew everything written in this report long before yesterday and voiced its position in the squares and the streets.

"Why should the United States tell us what to do? Apparently, the law enforcement authorities have not done their job," said the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Kornelia Ninova and called on this country‘s Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev to launch large-scale investigations.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms party demanded evidence from the United States about the allegations. This party said that until then it would support Delyan Peevski.

 "Now the focus is on all those who allowed the phenomena of “Peevski” and “Bozhkov” to become a fact", commented Democratic Bulgaria coalition.