At a joint press conference with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in St. Petersburg, whose country holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Europe not to “demonstrate its weakness and inability to protect its interests,” as Bulgaria did when it “caved in to pressure and dumped the Russian South Stream pipeline”.

“Our Bulgarian colleagues assured us that they would fight for the South Stream to the end, as this corresponds to their national interests. Bulgaria, under pressure from outside, abandoned this project, now they regret it, now they are talking about getting our gas through the Turkish Stream. I really would not like all of Europe to look like Bulgaria, show such weakness and inability to protect its national interests," President Putin said.

Earlier in Moscow, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced that his country had reached agreement with Bulgaria and Serbia on developing infrastructure that would enable transiting via an interconnector of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.