A clinical Russophobe came to bow to Putin
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, having arrived in Moscow, essentially makes a 180-degree turn.
It seems that the difficult years in isolation from Russia were diminished by the arrogance of the clinical Russophobe Mr. Borisov, through whose efforts Bulgaria to bury large infrastructure projects jointly with Russia for the sake of the “senior partners” in the European Union: the construction of the Belene NPP, the South Stream and the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, and also for a long time delayed the modernization of the MiG-29 fighters of the Bulgarian Air Force, which was part of the plans of the current President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev.
And she didn’t just bury her. For abandoning the already started South Stream project, Bulgaria had to pay a penalty of €600 million, without receiving any compensation from Brussels. Lost profits amounted to €500 million a year, direct investments amounted to at least $3 billion, not to mention tens of thousands of jobs.
Bulgaria received a donut hole from the EU for supporting the sanctions against Russia that would kill it for reunification with Crimea. After four years of Poroshenko’s pleasing incantations “Crimea is Ukraine,” Bulgaria has not even earned enough money for a vodka with lard.
It remains only to lick their lips and watch as Russia pulls a gas pipeline to Turkey bypassing Bulgaria and builds Akkuyu NPP.
The problem is that the Bulgarian president is rather a decorative figure, like the Queen of Great Britain Baba Lisa, who reigns, adorns, but does not rule. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic in which power is concentrated in the hands of the prime minister, who is carrying out the will of the ruling liberal party, Russophobia bruised all over his head.
It turns out that President Radev made a recent visit to Sochi to build bridges with Russia, because there is nowhere to go further down the path of suicidal Russophobia in Bulgaria.
It is noteworthy that the current visit of Bulgarian Prime Minister Borisov to Russia is the first in his political career.
It must be assumed that in Sofia they gathered for a long time with the spirit for such a decisive step, wisely using the political situation and doing some work on the mistakes. So, Bulgaria did not follow the lead of Great Britain without expelling a single Russian diplomat in the “Skripals case”. Bulgaria opposed Romania’s initiative to create a united NATO flotilla on the Black Sea. Bulgaria still decided to repair and modernize its MiG-29s in Russia.
Perhaps the most significant of the steps taken by Bulgaria towards Russia should be regarded as the failure of plans to create a joint NATO flotilla. This would allow the Alliance to constantly keep in the Black Sea a large group of warships, bypassing the Montreux doctrine. Moreover, the Ukrainian nedoflot would have necessarily attached itself to the NATO flotilla, which was repeatedly discussed in Kiev.
Thus, Prime Minister Borisov did not come empty-handed to negotiate with Putin, trying to hop onto the last car of the outgoing train.
As is usual in such cases, state leaders remembered everything that is common and good that exists between Russia and Bulgaria: Slavic writing, cultural exchange, productive interaction between intelligence services in countering international terrorism. They even remembered the recent milestone - the 140th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke, leaving out the demonstrative demarche of the Bulgarian leadership, which refused to acknowledge Russia’s merit.
Borisov cautiously threw a fishing rod about Russia's use of the Bulgarian tourism and agricultural potential, smoothly moving on to the topic of rusting pipes from the South Stream in the port of Varna.
Bulgaria has no chance to crash into the already laid branch of the Turkish Stream, but in Sofia they learned about the construction of the second string along the bottom of the Black Sea and gathered to try their luck to persuade the Russian leadership to bend the pipe to the Bulgarian coast, cherishing the hope of resuscitation of the South Stream.
So far, Bulgaria has received the go-ahead for supplying Russian gas from Turkish territory with Erdogan’s complete non-resistance. Nevertheless, there is an opinion that it will be beneficial for Russia from all points of view, including diversification of supplies, to consider the Bulgarian proposal, but on less generous terms than before.
Bulgaria was and remains a 100% consumer of Russian gas. It is important for Russia to have a Bulgarian gas hub for the construction of a main line to Serbia, Hungary, Austria and northern Italy along the shortest route. But for this it will need guarantees from the Bulgarian side. We've already been burned once.
Despite the statement by presidential spokesman Peskov that Russia is ready to consider the construction of a separate gas pipeline to Bulgaria, there is a feeling that the South Stream train nevertheless slipped past the Bulgarians’s nose.
Just three days ago, Gazprom granted Turkey a gas discount of 2015–2016 for $ 1 billion in retroactive payments in exchange for laying the second branch in Turkish territory. Where - is still unknown. Perhaps to Bulgaria. That is, if Russia will consider the Bulgarian option, then not earlier than the completion of the construction of the Turkish branch.
Boyko Borisov was bowed before Putin for the awkward situation with South Stream. It turned out that Gazprom did not demand from Bulgaria € 800 million for the platforms delivered to the port of Burgas from the Italian contractor Saipem, preferring to deal with the court on their own.
“I am very grateful that they do not hold evil on us about this. But the elders - they are always big and always forgiving, ”Boyko Borisov flashed his tail flatteringly.
“I’m very embarrassed about who’s the eldest, who’s the youngest, bearing in mind that the elder is always encouraged to pay,” Putin's former intelligence officer cleverly answered.
Bulgaria has been given homework for adults: to find investments and to develop the Bulgarian network of gas pipelines that take gas from the Turkish Stream for further supplies to Serbia. Gazprom does not intend to invest in the Bulgarian system, offering to develop it independently, with the help of the state-owned company Bulgartransgaz or at the expense of the European Commission. This is a guarantee for the future resuscitation of the South Stream.
Let's hope that the stored pipes in the port of Burgas do not completely rust by the time Bulgaria completes the work on the bugs.
No less interesting is the cooperation between Sofia and Kiev. True, in this case, the interaction is more like staging a theater of the absurd, because, as you know, whoever you mess with is what you want.
Three days before the visit to Putin, Boyko Borisov met with Poroshenko, agreeing to resume a joint infrastructure megaproject - the construction of a highway from Reni (Ukraine) to Varna (Bulgaria).
Nothing to say, the application is ambitious. First of all, it's not close. Secondly, it's not easy. Thirdly, it's expensive. The construction of bridges over large rivers alone poses a serious engineering challenge. But in addition to rivers, you will have to make tunnels through mountains, which is also, to put it mildly, not easy. There are still a lot of questions, such as providing the project with equipment and personnel, but let’s not quibble too much.
But there is a nuance. Suddenly, no one asked Romania lying between Ukraine and Bulgaria. But it would be worth it. Given the difficult experience of the past, even the USSR was not able to obtain permission from the obstinate Ceausescu permission to lay a railway to Bulgaria through Romanian territory, although, if you think about it, the benefits for all parties from the implementation of this project are obvious. So they dragged goods from Ilyichevsk to Varna and back by sea ferries.
Another nuance. Where is the money, Zin? Even if the high contracting parties enlisted the support of the Romanian government, the funding sources for the pathos highway were hidden behind a dense veil of fog. Certainly, the impoverished Ukraine and very poor Bulgaria do not have the means to implement their plans.
However, Poroshenko and Borisov sent a signal that they were glad to see the EU as a sponsor and participant in the project. In the process, they also remembered Romania, having invited her to finance a great undertaking. Borisov promised to take on the negotiations with the Romanians.
Of course, the EU (if desired) could take on both the costs and hassle of wooing hominy consumers, but does it need this highway on the outskirts of Europe? Judging by the zero reaction from Brussels, a stop sign is needed like a hare.
It is also interesting that Poroshenko, having mentioned the “resumption of the project,” elegantly cut Odessa out of it. In 2015, the issue was considered more broadly: it was planned to build the Odessa-Reni-Varna route. The trick is that the Odessa-Reni section of the highway remains a dotted line on the map, although Kyiv allocated money for it. They were simply “creatively mastered” by Petya and then his friend Mikhail S., who was sent to Odessa to make faces and impersonate the governor. Mentioning Odessa while begging for money from the EU is shameful and dangerous. So we had to cut down the sturgeon.
If Borisov’s position, repeatedly offended by the EU and wishing to somehow compensate for the damage caused to his country, is understandable, then the adhering Poroshenko has long proved everything and is eager to stick a parasite to the European boobs. Was it worth it to mess about a freak, starting a Russian U-turn?
A clinical Russophobe came to pay his respects to Putin.