Kristian Vigenin

Bulgaria's outgoing Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin has suggested that new sanctions against Russia will have a negative impact on the entire EU.

In a Wednesday interview for the Bulgarian National Television, he claimed that the restrictive measures which the 28 EU Member States were currently discussing would not affect Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin has rejected accusations of allowing a state of international isolation during his term in office.

Vigenin presented a short report on the achievements at an annual meeting in Sofia with Bulgarian ambassadors.

Outgoing Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin will be the government's nomination to become the next EU Commissioner from the country, ruling party sources say.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has demanded that the South Stream pipeline be excluded from the scope of the EU's Third Energy package.

He told reporters after meeting Bulgarian counterpart Kristian Vigenin that Moscow would also insist that negotiations with Brussels be renewed on the project.

“South Stream is very important for Bulgaria and south-eastern Europe,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin said after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Sofia on Monday.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with his counterpart Kristian Vigenin on July 7, during his official visit to Bulgaria.

He is to mark the 135th anniversary since diplomatic relations were established between Bulgaria and Russia, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said in a statement to the media.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to arrive in Bulgaria to meet his counterpart Kristian Vigenin on July 7.

He is to mark the 135th anniversary since diplomatic relations were established between Bulgaria and Russia, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said in a statement to the media.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin met Serbian counterpart and Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic during his visit to Belgrade on July 3.

The two agreed that political consultations between would be held this autumn between their institutions to discuss issues regarding bilateral relations, but also Serbia's integration into the EU.

BELGRADE - The foreign ministers of Serbia and Bulgaria, Ivica Dacic and Kristian Vigenin respectively, said in Belgrade on Thursday that the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline is of vital importance for both countries, and Dacic underscored that this is primarily the issue of energy security and stability, and not relations with Russia.

"EU strategic objective, Russia advantage"

BELGRADE -- The EU is "a strategic objective for Serbia - but that does not rule out cooperation with Russia - an advantage that Serbia intends to use."

This is what President Tomislav Nikolić told the visiting Bulgarian minister of foreign affairs, Kristian Vigenin, as they met in Belgrade on Thursday.