Economy of Russia

A Russian senator called on "Gazprom" to leave the Bulgarians out in the cold this winter.

Moldova will not be able to honour its payment obligations for August for gas from Gazprom, the director of Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, told BIRN on Thursday.

"We hope we can get an extension of the payment term. The deadline is August 20, but I think we can also pay on August 22," Ceban told BIRN.

"All possible sources of gas supplies are on the table, including Gazprom, but they are the last option". This was stated by Energy Minister Rosen Hristov on BNT.

"We haven't started reaching out to them yet because we're looking to exhaust all possible options. It's a last resort, but we haven't taken them off the options list."

"Liquefied gas from the United States is the best option for Bulgaria". Former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said this on Nova TV. According to him, he negotiated personally with the suppliers, without intermediaries.

"We are not closing the Gazprom chapter as long as there are guarantees that there will be no risks for Bulgargaz if the conditions change."

This is what the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bulgargaz, Ivan Topchiyski, told Nova today. The state company is a public supplier and is responsible for the security of receiving blue fuel in Bulgaria.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia wishes to "talk to the Russians" about the Oil Industry of Serbia, NIS, which is majority-owned by two Russian energy companies, and if need be "take over", while EU sanctions against Russian oil companies are in force.

Gazprom continues to supply natural gas to Europe through Ukraine. This was announced today to the media by the spokesman of the Russian holding Sergey Kupriyanov, quoted by TASS.

"It is possible that the Greek gas connection will start operating in July", said Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in response to a question from the Bulgarian National Radio.

"Everyone predicted September, October, November - no, it will open in July," the prime minister said today in Veliko Tarnovo.

At his garage in the south of Moscow, 35-year-old mechanic Ivan is starting to worry.    

With billions of dollars in financial reserves and money still coming in from oil and gas exports, Russia has yet to feel the full impact of the barrage of Western sanctions imposed over its offensive in Ukraine.    

But Ivan sees storm clouds on the horizon.    

"Purely technologically, Bulgaria can do without Russian oil, but this would significantly increase the cost of fuel. Therefore, if the European Commission allows exemptions [from the oil embargo], we will exercise our right to request such an exemption as well."

This was stated by Finance Minister Asen Vassilev in an interview with the weekly "Capital".