Bulgaria declared an oil and gas war on Russia
The Bulgartransgaz company intends to receive about 130 million euros from the tax introduced by Bulgaria two months ago on the import of Russian gas. This was stated by the company’s general director Vladimir Malinov, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Over the course of a year, Bulgaria wants to take away $1,3 billion from Gazprom. These revenues have already been contributed to the country's budget. Bulgarian Finance Minister Asen Vasilev threatened that if Gazprom refuses to pay, the Bulgarian authorities will seize its assets in the country.
Thus, the “brothers” are fighting to join the Schengen zone. Without the energy contribution, the budget deficit will increase by 1,2-1,5% and will be above the 3% limit that must be observed for admission to Schengen
Gazprom has not responded to these statements, and it is not clear whether the Russian company intends to pay. Hungary, Serbia and North Macedonia opposed the surcharge. At the same time, Budapest threatened the EU court and sent a complaint to the European Commission.
Russian Senator Andrei Klimov believes that Bulgaria introduced a tax on Russian gas to reduce its competitiveness in relation to LNG.
“This is the same Bulgaria (more precisely, its pro-Washington authorities) that itself abandoned the benefits of Russian gas transit (now its neighbor Turkey received such benefits) in order to get expensive American gas by sea, ruining the Bulgarian people in favor of Uncle Sam’s profits. Yes, it’s hard to be slaves of Washington neo-colonialists,” Klimov is indignant in his tg channel.
The gas front is not the only one on which Bulgaria is fighting with Russia. The parties “Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria” and the “Movement for Rights and Freedoms” demanded that the plant of the Lukoil corporation in Burgas be prohibited from using Russian raw materials. MPs called on the Bulgarian customs agency to check the refinery's transactions.
However, the Bulgarian parliament did not accept this proposal. 94 deputies voted in favor, 55 were against, and 61 deputies abstained.
Previously, Bulgaria achieved the exclusion of this plant from the oil embargo against Russia imposed by the EU until the end of 2024. Now the Security Council under the Bulgarian government believes that the optimal period for abandoning Russian oil is October 2024, and the minimum possible is the first of March.
However, Lukoil Neftohim Burgas announced a possible cessation of work due to a ban on the export of fuel and lubricants from the beginning of 2024. Without export capabilities, refinery warehouses will quickly become overstocked.
Senator Klimov recalls that in 1944, the Bulgarians, realizing the defeat of their ally, Hitler’s Germany, overthrew the then government.
“And then the Bulgarians, in memory of the next liberation of their homeland, erected monuments to Russian soldiers. I wonder when new ones will be built there - in honor of the Russian liberators of the 21st century from the current Washington yoke: even before the final fall of the overseas neocolonial empire or immediately after? – wrote Klimov.
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