Bulgaria’s President Rossen Plevneliev and Bulgaria’s Minster of Foreign Affairs Daniel Mitov paid an official visit to Ukraine in a moment of high tension between the EU and Greece. This was the first visit of Bulgarian head of state in the past 12 years. It became clear that Sofia wanted to show again its political support towards Ukraine in its dispute with Russia.

President Plevneliev visited Kiev in a moment of dramatic developments during the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Several days before the visit of President Plevneliev to Ukraine, that country failed to reach an agreement with Russia and the EU regarding the gas supplies. Russia did not agree to offer a discount to its gas price. Ukraine stopped buying Russian gas and Russian energy Company Gazprom announced that it would stop transiting gas through Ukraine after 2019 and would not resume its gas supplies to that country under any circumstances. Kiev wants to continue transiting Russian gas to Europe, but it can also receive gas through gas interconnections with Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. The Ukrainian cabinet is expected to hold talks with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The European Investments Bank and the International monetary Fund, in order to receive financial aid to buy the necessary quantities of gas and fill its underground gas-storage facilities for the forthcoming winter period. Bulgaria can not be indifferent to these events, because the Russian gas supplied to this country is transited through Ukrainian territory. President Plevneliev said in Kiev that it was much better from an economic point of view for Ukraine and Bulgaria to use the current gas transferring networks, rather than investing in a new project which would cost billions of Euros. Rossen Plevneliev backed openly Ukraine in that dispute. In his view, gas is not a weapon. It is a commodity which must be sold and supplied to Europe at market prices. Thus, Bulgaria would avoid the situation to pay the Russian gas and be left without this fuel during the winter period due to disputes between Gazprom and Ukraine, as it happened back in 2008-2009. President Plevneliev also said that gas trade must comply with the requirements of the EU, which read that each country must have three alternative gas suppliers and three alternative routes.

President Plevneliev’s visit to Ukraine happened in time of new negotiations in Minsk within the framework of the Contact Group for Ukraine. This group consists of representatives of Kiev, Moscow, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and pro-Russian separatists who expected that the eastern part of Ukraine would join the Russian Federation, just like the Crimean Peninsula. President Plevneliev categorically repeated that Bulgaria supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine and it would not recognize the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia. Plevneliev believes that the crisis in Donbass, Eastern Ukraine, can be solved through the fulfillment of the Minsk Agreement.

Ukrainian President Petro Porishenko said that his country would start working on the construction of a transport corridor which would connect Odessa with Romania and Bulgaria. President Plevneliev said in return that his country would make efforts to recover the ferryboat line between the Bulgarian port of Varna and the Ukrainian port in Ilyichevsk, Odessa district. In his view, the project would be of very high economic expediency, just like the ferry line between Burgas and Poti (Georgia) which boosted exports to that country.

Presidents Poroshenko and Plevneliev also discussed the topic regarding the large Bulgarian community in Ukraine. Bulgaria again thanked Ukraine for its policy towards the ethnic Bulgarians. Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov expressed satisfaction that the community in Odessa and Izmail can watch the Bulgarian TV channel BNT World and voiced hopes that it would be broadcast in other Ukrainian cities soon which, in his view, would be of great significance for the historical preservation of the Bulgarian community. Moreover, the ethnic Bulgarians would be better informed about the EU and NATO, which would contribute to Ukraine’s future EU accession.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov