“The budget is going to hold up if revenues go down as a result of the reduction of excise duty on fuel, as proposed at a European level by Bulgaria. Negotiations are underway with Azerbaijan for natural gas but there are going to be no negotiations with Russia and Gazprom as long as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues,” said Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov in an interview with Bloomberg TV Bulgaria.

“There is a direct connection between Gazprom Export and the way Russia is governed, and that is a huge wall in the way of any negotiations. If the war continues naturally there can be no negotiations for Russian gas because, in the mid-term, such a supplier cannot be relied on, all the more so that the prices are excessive,” Minister Nikolov commented.