Yanev graduated from the Georgy Dimitrov national military artillery school in Shumen (now a faculty of the Vasil Levski National Military University) and began building a career in the army in 1983, when he was appointed commander of an artillery platoon in Asenovgrad.

He was appointed to the post of Prime Minister of Bulgaria by President Rumen Radev on 12 May 2021, succeeding Boyko Borisov.

He also became the first Prime Minister in modern Bulgarian history to serve as the head of government for two consecutive terms, albeit in a caretaker capacity.

Yanev was dismissed from his post as Minister of Defense by Petkov, because the latter had introduced a political taboo on the use of Russian narratives, including the "special operation" label favoured by Vladimir Putin to refer to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that escalated into full-scale war in 2022.

Yanev, who declared following Putin that it is not "war" in Ukraine but a "military operation", was dismissed on 1 March, a week after the start of the invasion.

[6] After being ousted as defence minister, Yanev became critical of the government and founded his own party named Bulgarian Rise on 5 May.