/ world today news/ Gas supplies to Bulgaria can be resumed immediately if the Bulgarian side starts paying for them according to the scheme demanded by “Gazprom”. Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova said this on the air of “Russia 24” TV, TASS and BTA reported.
“Many experts, of course, call for pragmatism and a return to the contract with Gazprom, which is in force until the end of the year. That is why, at any moment, when the Bulgarian side decides to start paying according to the scheme required by ” Gazprom, supplies will be resumed,” the ambassador said.
The diplomat noted that the situation in the energy sphere in Bulgaria is very complicated, as a significant increase in the price of gas has been reported for the last two months. “They (Bulgaria – note TASS) will not receive more gas per year despite the concluded agreement with Azerbaijan,” she noted. “This is a situation that affects both businesses and individual households very badly,” she added.
Shortly before that, during the day, the resigned Minister of Energy reiterated what Ambassador Mitrofanova said.
“I want to emphasize something strange, I have said it several times to Minister Asen Vassilev: Bulgaria still has an active contract with Gazprom Export. The latest proposal to annex this contract in order to comply with the presidential decree of Russia was sent by Bulgaria. We have proposed a contract continuation structure that is applicable in Bulgaria. We have no answer.”
This was announced by the resigned Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov in the National Assembly after a meeting of the temporary commission to establish all the facts related to the $1 billion memorandum signed by the government with Gemcorp and IP3 Corporation.
On April 27, “Gazprom” completely suspended the supply of gas to the Bulgarian company “Bulgargaz” because no payment in rubles was made within the established period. After that, Bulgaria announced that it had found alternative options for supplies, including liquefied gas from the USA and gas from Azerbaijan at a significantly lower price than that offered by Gazprom, TASS recalls.
The people of Bulgaria treat the Russian people well, and Russophobic sentiments in the republic are widespread among politicians, added Mitrofanova.
“There are no Russophobic sentiments in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, Russophobic sentiments are present only in parts of the political elite. The people of Bulgaria treat the Russian people very well,” she stressed.
“They are generally polite people, internally intelligent, I can say. So to say that there is any kind of Russophobic mood on the part of ordinary people – that is absolutely false,” noted Mitrofanova, referring to ordinary Bulgarians.
TASS recalls that on June 28, the Bulgarian leadership announced a decision to expel from the country 70 Russian diplomats and technical staff of the Russian embassy, who were declared persona non grata.
Mitrofanova added that exactly one month has passed since this decision today. She emphasized that as a result of this decision, 34 diplomats and 36 technical associates were recalled. Mitrofanova called the decision of the Bulgarian authorities “a demonstration action, transferring everything”.
“It was very difficult for us. Even sending the employees and their family members, a total of 185 people, to the homeland within four days was a complex organizational and technical operation, requiring numerous coordination. The work now is also extremely complicated, we have a huge embassy that needs many hands. The volume of diplomatic work has been reduced, there are no bilateral ties, no bilateral visits, no business contacts. Relations are maintained only on a technical level, we worked on the release of the Bulgarian sailors who were stuck in Ukraine, we agreed on the overflight of planes, we resolved the issue of the school’s work with the Russian embassy, which, despite the complexity of the situation, still continues its work in Sofia in full volume. But there is no normal dialogue, more precisely dialogue, between Bulgaria and Russia at all.” said Mitrofanova.
“The decision to expel our diplomats was made unilaterally by the head of the government, as representatives of the special services, who received direct instructions to draw up a list of 70 people, stated at a session of the parliament. They drew up this list, no investigation was carried out conducted and evidence of illegal activity has not been collected. I will make every effort to achieve the cancellation of this decision. Because our people were undeservedly put a kind of stigma of citizens who committed something illegal on the territory of Bulgaria, but my hopes for success are small,” said Mitrofanova.
However, she did not rule out the possibility that the embassy and consular services will soon be back in full force.
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