Prime Minister Boyko Borissov made a visit to Moscow on May 30. The visit was planned to be a two-day visit, but it was shortened with the explanation of Borissov's urgent tasks in Sofia. Obviously, the talks covered all the agenda items; otherwise there would have been reports of visit termination.

Several days ago, after talks with President Rumen Radev in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin expressed his expectation for a "resumption of full-scale Russian-Bulgarian relations." Now, after meeting with Prime Minister Borissov, Putin said that their talks were "quite effective." Both the Russian and Bulgarian sides expressed regret that the South Stream gas pipeline project in Bulgaria was stopped, but also optimism for finding a formula to include Bulgaria in the supply of Russian gas to Europe. Last week President Rumen Radev called for direct supplies of Russian gas to Bulgaria but the topic was not discussed this time. However, the Russian side expressed readiness for considering Turkish Stream gas pipeline branch to Bulgaria. Media in Sofia commented on this under the title "Putin forgives us and Turkish stream turns to Bulgaria", but this is not true. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that there was no agreement on gas supplies to Bulgaria via "Turkish Stream", but there is Sofia’s wish for a branch and many unanswered questions about the ways this could be done and the route of the branch. Moscow also claims that the implementation of such a project is impossible without certain guarantees from the European Commission and Bulgaria.

TASS reported that the head of Russian giant "Lukoil", Vagit Alekperov, helped for the realization of the meeting between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Boyko Borissov. Indeed, Borissov's visit to Moscow came at the invitation of President Putin, but it is still strange that talks between premiers had not been planned. The prime ministers did not talk specifically about the long-delayed 16th session of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic and Scientific-Technological Cooperation, which was a topic of discussions between Medvedev and President Radev last week. Medvedev pointed out that the time had come to discuss various parameters of trade and economic cooperation, energy, tourism and transport, and this hints at the fact that the two countries are not focused on "forgiveness", but on pragmatically solving problems that have made their relations difficult in recent years.

Borissov's visit to Moscow was also linked to expectations of news about the fate of the frozen project for a second Bulgarian nuclear power plant in Belene. President Putin said the Russian side was ready to return to the Belene NPP project, while Borissov said Bulgaria currently had two reactors and a plant site and wanted the project to operate on a market principle. Rosatom confirmed that it will continue to supply nuclear fuel to the Bulgarian Kozloduy NPP, as well as providing support for the modernization and extending the life of the plant’s sixth unit. These positions, however, are not something new and we can expect new developments only after the Bulgarian parliament voted on a government proposal for restarting the Belene NPP project. Still there is convergence of interests as Rosatom is ready to take part in a bid to participate in the project on a market principle.

Intentions related to the South Stream gas pipeline and the Belene NPP are encouraging, but after the visit of Prime Minister Borissov to Moscow, their realization remains in the sphere of good expectations.

English: Alexander Markov