Russian President Vladimir Putin recently spoke harshly against Bulgaria. It was the obstacles from the side of this country that the implementation of the Turkish Stream project, an important gas pipeline to the south, came up against. The head of the Russian state has promised to find an alternative way if Bulgaria continues to change its behavior.
How Bulgaria left itself without South Stream
At one time, namely five years ago, Bulgaria played a key role in curtailing the old Russian project for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline. Then the Bulgarian leadership refused to allow construction until the project was in compliance with European law. It was about the fact that under the laws of the EU the same company can not simultaneously transport and sell gas. Thus, according to the logic of the Bulgarian side, after the construction of the gas pipeline, other companies, not the Russian Gazprom, should have been allowed to sell incoming gas.
Under pressure from the European Commission, Bulgaria in June and August 2014 stopped the construction of the highway. At the same time, pipes for the first string of the gas pipeline have already been delivered to Bulgarian Varna. On December 1 of 2014, work was supposed to begin on the offshore section of the gas pipeline, but they never started.
Bulgaria then acted in favor of its sponsors - the European Union and the United States, trying to harm Russia. For the sake of Western patronage, Sofia once again betrayed Russian-Bulgarian friendship and even her own financial and economic interests, having begun to sabotage the construction of the South Stream.
Naturally, such conditions did not suit the Russian side. As a result, Russia agreed with Turkey to build the Turkish Stream. Before that, Vladimir Putin said that Russia is refusing to build the South Stream because of the unconstructive position taken by the European Commission. Then, on December 1 of 2014, the head of Gazprom Alexey Miller announced that the South Stream project was closed and there would be no return to it.
Russia began construction of the Turkish Stream, also in December 2014, signing an agreement with the Turkish Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation. This gas pipeline with a length of 930 km runs along the bottom of the Black Sea to the Turkish coast, and its land part, with a length of 180 km, passes through Turkey to the border with Greece. The first line of the pipeline is designed to provide gas to Turkey, and the second line is designed to supply gas to the countries of South-East and Southern Europe. The power of each thread is 15,75 billion cubic meters.
The Turkish Stream gas pipeline has become Russia's most important fuel and energy project in the south, an analogue of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, which is being built in Northern Europe. Naturally, many countries in Southeast and Southern Europe associate the improvement of their gas supply with the new gas pipeline. Bulgaria is no exception. After all, its geographical location actually isolates the country from the main gas transmission routes.
The Russian gas pipeline is vital for Bulgaria!
The Russian South Stream project was for the Bulgarian side one of the very few chances to load its gas transportation system and gain the opportunity to earn on the transit of Russian gas to European countries. Otherwise, Bulgaria would have to buy gas from other countries and, accordingly, be left without cash receipts for its transit.
Over time, Sofia realized what mistake they had made, and turned to Moscow with a request to allow Bulgaria to participate in the Turkish Stream. Indeed, otherwise Bulgaria would have lost enormous and guaranteed funds coming in as a payment for the transit of gas through its territory.
Almost three weeks after the signing of the agreement between Russia and the Turkish corporation, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov "woke up" who said that Sofia was ready to provide all the necessary permits for the construction of the South Stream gas transmission pipeline. But it was too late.
Sofia even promised to initiate legal proceedings against Gazprom if the Turkish Stream gas pipeline suddenly bypasses Bulgarian land. In addition, Bulgaria was afraid that if gas to Turkey after the construction of the "Turkish Stream" goes around Ukraine, then it will not come to Bulgaria and the country will be in a very unfavorable situation. But the Turkish Stream was built, like the Nord Stream-2, in order to diversify gas supply routes from Russia abroad.
On June 19 on June 2015, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that he was receiving calls from the Bulgarian side with a request to resume the South Stream project. Apparently, the Bulgarian leadership by this time had already fully realized what opportunities the country had lost due to the fact that it was following the European Commission.
On 21 on May 2018, President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev stated that Bulgaria needs Russian gas, and on 30 on May 2018, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov during his visit to Russia officially apologized to Moscow for disrupting the South Stream and uttered very revealing words:
I am grateful that Russia does not hold evil. The elder always forgives.
And Russia really forgave the Bulgarian leadership. On 18 on September 2019, a contract for 1,1 billion euros was signed between Bulgartransgaz and the Arkad consortium led by Saudi Arkad Engineering. The contract provided for the design, supply of all necessary building materials, construction and commissioning of a gas pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian to the Bulgarian-Serbian border.
This is how the project “Balkan Stream” appeared - the branch of the “Turkish Stream” that follows from the border with Turkey to the border with Serbia through the territory of Bulgaria. The length of this highway is 474 kilometers. At the same time, Russia has already done everything in its power to make the gas pipeline operational; now it’s Bulgaria’s business, but it was she who became the new obstacle to completing the gas pipeline construction.
Further from Bulgaria, the gas pipeline will go to Serbia and then to Hungary and Slovakia, which also expect to receive Russian gas in this direction. At the same time, there are no problems with Hungary and Slovakia, and these countries, especially Hungary, in recent years have also shown a rather independent position on many important issues, especially in the field of economic cooperation with the Russian side.
What makes Sofia sabotage the construction
In fact, Bulgaria itself insisted that the Turkish Stream pass through its territory, but when Russia agreed to the persuasion of the Bulgarian side, the situation with the South Stream repeated. Bulgaria began to drag out construction in every way, which ultimately forced Vladimir Putin, who met with Serbian President Alexander Vučić, to speak harshly to Sofia.
At the same time, Putin noted that the Serbs, unlike the Bulgarians, lay gas pipeline pipes in record time. Every day in Serbia, 6 kilometers of the gas pipeline are leased. The most difficult task when laying a gas pipeline on Serbian territory was to lay it through a section under the Danube River in the area of the town of Smederevo, which is located 50 km southeast of Belgrade.
We need to hurry, because according to the plans of the Russian Ministry of Energy, Turkish Stream was planned to be launched in January of the 2020 of the year. The necessary infrastructure should be ready by this time. As for the Bulgarian side, the Balkan Stream intends to launch by the 2020 year, but for this it is already necessary to hurry up with the construction work, which the Russian authorities still do not see.
At the same time, the Bulgarian side does not refuse to participate in the Turkish Stream in words. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov immediately responded to criticism from Vladimir Putin and invited the latter to come to Bulgaria to be convinced of the high speed of the gas pipeline construction on Bulgarian territory: supposedly, Bulgarian builders surrender 5 kilometers, which is only slightly inferior to the pace of neighboring Serbia .
However, it is unlikely that Vladimir Putin would accuse the Bulgarian side of sabotaging the construction of the pipeline without good reason. It is clear that the gas pipeline is beneficial to the Bulgarian side, there is no doubt about it. But Putin bluntly stated that Sofia could slow down its construction under external pressure. And this is pressure from the United States and the leadership of the European Union.
But, first of all, the USA is, of course, the main opponent of construction. They are extremely unprofitable for additional Russian "energy expansion" in Europe, and therefore, Washington is devising various ways to prevent Russian gas transmission projects, both from Nord Stream-2 and from Turkish Stream. But if it is no longer possible to talk with Turkey from a position of strength, then Bulgaria remains the link that you can always put pressure on.
By the way, the Bulgarian authorities themselves made this clear, having told their version of the dispute over the construction of the gas pipeline.
Purely politically they don’t like that Bulgaria is such a loyal and strong member of NATO and the EU,
- Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov described criticism from the Russian president.
That is, he made it clear that the reasons for the Bulgarian slowness lie in the political sphere, and compliance with all the requirements of the European Union for the construction of highways is only an excuse that can always be found. Apparently, the Bulgarian leadership expects that "the elder will forgive" now.
After all, Russia has forgiven Bulgaria so many times - both after the First World War and after the Second World War, in which Sofia participated on the side of the fierce opponents of the Russian state. Russia continued to cooperate with Bulgaria even after it joined NATO, turning the country into an ally of the United States and a conductor of American interests in the Balkans.
But is it worth to expect “forgiveness” in the event of a repeated failure to launch the pipeline? Vladimir Putin made it clear that it’s not worth it, since Russia will seek alternative gas transit options if the Bulgarian state cannot protect its own interests and succumb to pressure from the United States and the European Union.
If Sofia repeats the South Stream experience a second time, then she will remain the fool, since the Turkish Stream will function quietly without Bulgaria participating in it. It is enough that Turkey, Greece, Serbia and other countries of the region will buy Russian gas.