SOFIA (Reuters) – Russian gas company Gazprom has sought compensation payments from Bulgaria following Sofia’s refusal to pay in roubles for gas last year, Bulgaria’s interim energy minister said on Friday.
Gazprom cut gas supplies on which Bulgaria was almost fully reliant at the end of April 2022 after the European Union country, along with other EU member states, refused to start paying in roubles following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Bulgaria’s long-term gas contract with Gazprom, set in U.S. dollars, expired at the end of 2022.
“There is an ongoing correspondence. Claims have been made by the Russian side for a certain amount of money, we have answered back…. I do not want to comment further because of confidentiality,” interim energy minister Rossen Hristov told national TV channel BNT.
“They want us to pay for something they believe that we owe them,” he said, adding that steps are being taken to defend the Bulgaria’s interests.
Gazprom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; editing by Jason Neely)
