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Bulgarian PM says Putin tried supplies of Russian gas ended, Pektov said May 23.
Speaking of steps taken in Bulgaria after
The Commission also recommended the
to split EU and bring down his the country had gone from “95% to 0% EU members to reduce their dependency on
fossil fuels by increasing the use of renewable
dependence” on Russian gas.
government with targeted gas a contract to supply American liquefied energy sources and by strengthening the
“During my visit to Washington, we signed
electricity distribution networks.
cut-offs natural gas [LNG]. We renegotiated the terms the European Commission said that there
In its European Semester Spring review
with the Shah Deniz consortium so that our
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov argued country can receive gas from Azerbaijan is a double urgency to transform Europe’s
on May 22 that Moscow aimed to split the EU again, after the previous government refused energy system: ending the EU’s dependence
and bring down the Bulgarian government by this opportunity for inexplicable reasons,” he on Russian fossil fuels, which are used as
cutting off gas to selected EU countries. explained. an economic and political weapon and cost
Russia’s Gazprom decided to stop European taxpayers nearly €100bn per year,
delivering natural gas to Bulgaria as of April and tackling the climate crisis.
27 after Sofia refused to amend the existing Serbia to be able to store The Commission noted that 85% of
contract. On April 26, Gazprom also halted Europeans believe that the EU should reduce
the supplies to Poland after the country 300mn-500mn cubic metres its dependency on Russian gas and oil as soon
refused to pay in rubles instead of euros. as possible to support Ukraine.
In an oped for Frankfurter Allgemeine of gas in Hungary, president “The measures in the REPowerEU Plan
Zeitung republished on the Bulgarian can respond to this ambition, through energy
government website, Petrov argued that says savings, diversification of energy supplies,
Putin had three aims in selecting Bulgaria and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy
– which until the end of April got almost all Serbia will be able to store 300mn-500mn to replace fossil fuels in homes, industry and
of its natural gas from Russia – as one of the cubic meters of gas in Hungary, Serbian power generation,” it said.
country to cut off. President Aleksandar Vucic told local media
“First of all, he wanted to demonstrate that on May 21.
he could destabilise a European government Vucic said he had been informed by Prime Serbia seeks to connect to
that has declared a policy of zero tolerance for Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban that
corruption. As in many other countries, so in Serbia would be able to store some of its gas BRUA on Romanian territory
Bulgaria, it is through corruption that Russia in Hungary, because there are not enough
influences state policy,” wrote the Bulgarian storage capacities in Serbia, according to the Serbia, a country that buys natural gas from
prime minister. eKapija portal, referring to Kurir. Russia at preferential prices due to its political
“Second, hoping for a new, pro-Russian With the storage of gas in Hungary, the ties with the regime in Moscow, is now
government, the Kremlin aims to restore citizens of Serbia will be safe in the winter, seeking to connect its gas transport grid with
Russian influence in Bulgaria, a country even if “someone tries to cut the gas pipelines”, the BRUA natural gas corridor — a project
with historical sympathies for Russia, which, Vucic said. There are also plans to build a essentially aimed at helping the countries in
however, has consciously decided to join storage facility in Srpski Itebej. the region offset the dominance of the Russian
Nato and the EU after a difficult period of Vucic and Orban met in Novi Sad at the gas.
transition.” opening of the Agricultural Fair. “For us, Serbia’s Energy Minister Zorana
He added: “Targeting Bulgaria and Poland, the friendship with Hungary is of essential Mihajlovic, visiting Romania, said on May 23
the Kremlin relied on tensions and disunity importance. At the moment, we have 162mn that her country would prepare the design and
in the European Union. The fact that the cubic metres of gas in our part of [storage technical documentation for the construction
EU is currently maintaining its unity and facility] Banatski Dvor, and in the Russian of a 12.8-kilometre-long gas pipeline that
determination against Russia was probably part, we have another 123mn. We can would connect Mokrin in Serbia and the
the biggest surprise for many. It was here that withdraw 5mn cubic meters of gas a day, border with Romania, which would allow
the Kremlin saw a good opportunity to try to which is not enough in the winter, because Serbia to connect with the national power grid
break that determination.” we withdraw up to around 15mn then. That is in Romania, operated by Transgaz, and to the
Ahead of the decision, Bulgaria’s ruling why it’s important to have another source as BRUA pipeline.
coalition had been strained by the war in well and a place where we can store gas,” Vucic “Serbia and Romania have good relations
Ukraine. While Petkov’s Change Continues said. and this is an excellent basis for discussing
favoured sending military aid to Ukraine, future joint projects,” said Zorana Mihajlovic.
this was strongly opposed by one of its Serbia is already supplied from the Turk
coalition partners, the pro-Russian Bulgarian Slovenia recommended to Stream with Russian gas through Bulgaria.
Socialist Party (BSP). Another coalition BRUA — which connects Bulgaria,
partner, Democratic Bulgaria, threatened reduce dependency on fossil Romania, Hungary and Austria — was
to quit if aid was not extended. Meanwhile, designed to lessen dependence on Russian
President Rumen Radev had disappointed fuels gas and provide a new export route for future
his supporters by not taking a tougher line on natural gas exploitation in the Black Sea.
Russia. However, when it came to the vote in The European Commission recommended
Parliament, the BSP backed the government’s to all EU countries, including Slovenia, to
position, averting a crisis. diversify their imports of fossil fuels, it said on

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