Page 11 - DMEA Week 48

DMEA PIPeLInes DMEA
Putin accuses Bulgaria of deliberately delaying TurkStream
mIddLe east
BULGARIA is intentionally delaying the com- pletion of its part of Turkstream pipeline, while serbia has almost completed its part, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on December 4 at a press conference with his serbian peer Alek- sandar Vucic.
Russia has decided to build the second leg of Turkstream through Bulgaria, serbia and hungary. In November, Bulgaria’s Prime Min- ister Boyko Borissov announced that gas from Turkstream will go through Bulgaria and ser- bia before May 2020. however, so a is lagging behind Belgrade in the project.
Putin said that the serbian section of the pipe- line should be completed within a few weeks.
“But what we see, despite the numerous assurances, despite repeated requests to the Rus- sian side to ensure the supply of our gas through Turkey to Bulgaria, we see that the Bulgarian side [...] deliberately delays the implementation of the project on its territory. I want to say this directly and publicly,” Putin said at the joint press conference in sochi.
he added that sofia is delaying the pro- ject under external pressure and that Russia could look for other opportunities in southeast Europe.
Borissov responded to the accusation, saying that he has ful lled all his promises regarding the project and expressing doubts that serbia will be ready before Bulgaria.
On the other hand, Putin pointed out that Russia will increase its investment in serbia’s energy sector thanks to the good relations between the two countries.
Vucic’s visit comes shortly a er in November
serbia’s intelligence services revealed a large- scale intelligence operation carried out by Rus- sian spies and serbian military officers. This was revealed a er a video showing a meeting between a man later identi ed as Lt. Col. Georgy Kleban, a former assistant military attaché at Russia’s embassy in Belgrade, and a serbian retired army o cer, identi ed as Z.K.
however, the two leaders did not comment on the scandal at the press conference. Moreo- ver, Vucic stated that his country will continue its cooperation with Moscow “no matter what anyone says”.
Putin did not miss the opportunity to point out the cooperation with serbia in the defence industry, but without going into many details.
A day earlier, Vucic made a surprising announcement that his country will stop buy- ing weapons, but will continue developing its military. e statement came a er Belgrade was strongly criticised a er rumours have appeared that serbia might acquire Russian air defence systems that would give Putin a serious advan- tage in the region. At the time, Vucic said that serbia cannot a ord to buy these systems unless they are gi ed.
Meanwhile, Putin once again backed serbia regarding Kosovo, saying that while Russia’s position on Kosovo – whose independence it rejects – remained unchanged, it would back a compromise solution if it is in favour of serbia.
e Russian leader also noted that his coun- try has proposed to renovate the serbian air eet, by delivering aircra and opening a regional cen- tre for maintenance and overhaul of Russian avi- ation equipment at Belgrade airport.™
Week 48 05•December•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P11