Radio Bulgaria

Big Bulgarian-Russian energy projects and the tricky question of possible deployment on Bulgarian territory of components from the US missile defence shield were central to the Moscow-held talks of a Bulgarian delegation led by National Assembly President Tsetska Tsacheva during an official visit to the Russian Federation on March 15 and 16. This visit was hardly surprising. Observers saw in it yet another move for warming up relations with Russia after the new center-right government took over in the summer and hinted it might revise Bulgarian-Russian energy projects developed by the former government of socialist Sergei Stanishev. The three big projects, notably the Belene NPP off the Danube, the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and the South Stream gas pipeline were on top of the agenda of Tsetska Tsacheva’s talks with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko. “I found out that Minister Shmatko is well aware of the public sentiments in Bulgaria regarding the implementation of these major energy projects and more notably, of some fears about their environmental impact”, Tsacheva said emerging from the talks that she still defined as “open and constructive”. She added that Bulgaria needed guarantees for uninterrupted supplies of energy carriers from Russia and was keen to make sure that a gas supply crisis like the one that occurred in early 2009 would not happen again. In turn Sergei Shmatko remarked that Bulgaria’s law-making body was inclined to provide the successful implementation of these projects. He added that the projects were not just Russian-Bulgarian, but had a markedly European character. “Big companies from France and Germany are involved in the Belene NPP project for the delivery of equipment worth in excess of EUR 1 billion”, Shmatko specified. The Bulgarian delegation met with the Speaker of Russia’s State Duma Boris Gryzlov. The sides discussed the US missile defense shield, a topic that Russia is very sensitive about. Possible deployment of components from the American missile defense system has not been discussed by either the Bulgarian parliament or government, Tsetska Tsacheva said. At the end of the Bulgarian visit to Moscow the Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted the president of the Bulgarian parliament: “Despite the political changes in Bulgaria and the arrival of a new government, Russia remains our strategic partner, and this is particularly valid where economy and energy are concerned.”