Hungary and Serbia support Putin's war machine – Bulgarian PM
Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov has accused Hungary and Serbia of supporting the Kremlin's "war machine" by not looking for alternative sources of energy resources.
Source: Bloomberg; European Pravda
Details: Denkov's criticism of Hungary and Serbia came amid a dispute over a gas import tax recently introduced by the Bulgarian government.
"There was sufficient time to look for alternatives, to see that these profits are feeding the war machine of Putin. We cannot wait any longer. Actually, this should have happened earlier," Denkov stressed.
Denkov accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić of fuelling groundless fears of price hikes rather than negotiating.
Meanwhile, Denkov added that he was open to negotiations.
Background:
- Earlier, Bulgaria approved a law that introduces a levy of 20 Bulgarian levs [roughly US$10,8] per megawatt-hour of gas of Russian origin, which effectively increases its cost by about 20% compared to the average price of European gas.
- Although Sofia stated that the move was targeting Russia, which is trying to use energy profits to finance the war in Ukraine, it caught Hungary and Serbia, two countries dependent on Russian gas supplies, by surprise and led them to protest.
- Following a wave of outrage, the Bulgarian government announced that it would soon hold talks with its European partners on a tax on Russian gas transit.
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