Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Russian President Vladimir Putin have discussed on the phone today (5 March) big energy projects with Russian participation in Bulgaria. Such projects have been discussed many times, without any results, except heavy financial burdens for the Bulgarian budget.
The two spoke on the phone a day after the Russian Patriarch Kirill left Bulgaria, where he left a bitter aftertaste. Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, was in Bulgaria on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the 3 March San Stefano treaty, which marked the Ottoman Empire defeat in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. 3 March is the National Day of Bulgaria.
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Reportedly, Borissov presented his idea for the development of the Belene NPP project as a common Balkan project. He assured Putin that he had met with support from his colleagues from the Western Balkan countries for Belene to become a common Balkan project, the government’s information office reported.
Borissov has big plans for spending EU money in the Balkans in which Bulgaria is the centrepiece. It is less clear to what extent the EU and financial institutions would follow Borissov’s advice how to spend their funds.
According to the same source, Vladimir Putin indicated that his country was ready to take part in discussions when resuming work on the project.
Bulgaria depends on Russia for 89% of its petrol, 100% of its natural gas, and all of the nuclear fuel needed for its Kozloduy nuclear power station, which has two functioning reactors. The plan for a second nuclear central at Belene was shelved by Borissov’s government in 2012. It is widely assumed that Bulgaria canceled the Belene projects following Western pressure.
Reportedly, the development of the Balkan gas hub project and “the possibilities for direct gas supply for Bulgaria under guarantees by the European Commission” were discussed.
The background is as follows. It was the Borissov government which cancelled the South Stream pipeline project, designed to bring 63 bcm/y of Russian gas under the Black Sea to the Bulgarian port city of Varna. There was indeed pressure from the European Commission to cancel the project, but this pressure was based on scandalous anti-competitive texts in the intergovernmental agreement, like promises that only Bulgarian, Russian and Greek firms will build the pipeline on Bulgarian territory. The project was scrapped in 2014.
Russia immediately turned to Turkey, replacing South Stream with a “Turkish Stream” project under which a first pipe will bring Russian gas to the European territory of Turkey. No decision has been made concerning the second pipe, and the possibility that it could reach Bulgaria still exists.
Borissov has invested a lot of ambition in a “Balkan” gas hub near Varna, which would make sense especially if the second pipe of the Russian offshore pipeline reaches Bulgarian territory.
Reportedly, the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline was also commented, Putin saying that this project was largely fulfilled and Borissov informing him that the interconnector link between Bulgaria and Turkey should be ready on 1 June. “In this connection, the possibility of building a deviation from “Turkish Stream”, which reaches directly to the Balkan hub, has been considered”, the press service of the Bulgarian PM informed.
Also, a meeting Borissov – Putin during the Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU was discussed.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has invited Putin to visit the country in 2018. But the Bulgarian government readout doesn’t specify a visit of Putin to Bulgaria.
A Kremlin communiqué only says that Putin and Borissov “exchanged congratulations” on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria following the Russo-Turkish war, and that energy projects were discussed.
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