On 18 January 2017, an official ceremony was conducted in the Ceremonial Hall at the Ministry of Defence for the formal transfer of the position of Chief of Defence.

Vice Admiral Evtimov was born on 16 August 1961 in Varna, In 1979 he finished the Secondary School of Mathematics in the city and started his higher education at Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy. After his graduation he finished the advance class at the Naval Academy of the Russian Federation in St Petersburg, Russia, and then the Naval War College in Newport, USA. This was followed by training at NATO School (SHAPE) Oberammergau, Germany, and NATO Defence College, Rome, Italy.

In 2016, he was promoted to Vice Admiral. In the same year, he was appointed to the position of Deputy Chief of Defence.

With their most sincere feeling of respect, the leadership and the academic staff of Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy congratulate Vice Admiral Evtimov on his appointment as provisional Chief of Defence and wish him the best of health and patience, strength at difficult times, wisdom and balance in every decision!