Gazprom

A decision on whether Bulgaria will negotiate with the Russian monopoly "Gazprom" can be expected in a week at the earliest.

Such negotiations will only take place if it turns out that Bulgaria will not be able to secure all the necessary quantities of gas for the winter, confirmed Energy Minister Rosen Hristov:

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.

"'Gazprom' is not just a trader or a supplier, it is a geopolitical weapon of Russia, which is in a severe confrontation not only with Ukraine, but also with the EU and NATO, and with the entire international order on which our way of life rests."

Hundreds gathered at a protest at "Dondukov 2" street against President Rumen Radev and his caretaker government.

"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.

With anxiety in Europe escalating over Moscow's stance after the end of the ten-day maintenance period on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on July 21, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called a meeting on the country's energy supply security measures.