The visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov to Sofia on 6 July was crowned by an unexpected breakthrough: the Bulgarian government stated for the first time in public that it would not give up the South Stream project, Kommersant writes.
The article's title, 'Bulgaria: Brotherly to Gazprom', plays with the 'brotherhood' catchword widely used in communism to describe Soviet-Bulgarian relations.
Historically, Bulgarians harbour gratitude to Russians, who helped free their country from the Ottoman Empire in the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish war.
Plans to eliminate Bulgaria from South Stream were first reported by the Russian press last October (EurActiv 20/10/09) and were later confirmed in February (EurActiv 19/02/10) and June (EurActiv 17/06/10).
When he came to power last July, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov ordered the freezing of his country's participation in major energy projects, including South Stream and the construction of a new nuclear power plant at Belene (EurActiv 14/07/10).
His subsequent statements on those issues appeared to indicate that his governments had other priorities and a small budget.
U-turn
Against this background, Zubkov's visit marked a U-turn.
''From now on we have no litigious issues with South Stream concerning the South Stream project. On Thursday [8 July] our experts will reach final agreement on the roadmap and in 2015 the pipeline will be operational,'' Borissov is quoted as saying.
This view was confirmed by Zubkov, who said the roadmap would be signed ''in the next few days''.
According to Borissov, the existing gas pipeline system will be used for the project, with the pipes remaining Bulgaria's property. On those sections where additional pipes will be added, the ownership would be on the basis of ''parity'' between Russia and Bulgaria, he said.
For his part, Zubkov said the project would be implemented in the shortest terms, but gave no details as to the pipeline's ownership formula.
Russian diplomacy may have also convinced Bulgaria not to abandon the Belene nuclear power plant project (EurActiv 30/06/10). The government is working on an agreement with Russia to postpone a 280 million euros down-payment for building the first unit of the plant, the country's finance minister, Simeon Dyankov, announced.
The payment to Atomstroyexport was due in the course of this year, but Bulgaria did not have the budget means, Dyankov explained.
USA reacts nervously
US Ambassador to Sofia James B. Warlick reacted nervously to the developments.
''What happens with the diversification [of supply sources]?'' he fretted, in comments to Trud daily.
Warlick also called for deals with Gazprom to be made public and asked for greater transparency on what was agreed during Zubkov's visit. As a rule, the Russian gas monopoly insists that its gas deals remain secret.
According to diplomatic sources, the US had asked Sofia to drag its feet over participation in the South Stream project, in order to allow the rival Nabucco pipeline to come to life first (see 'Background').
The US is also unhappy with the Belene nuclear power plant, which would increase Bulgaria's dependence of Russian financing and supplies.
Other surprising developments in Bulgaria could also be interpreted as signs of a rapprochement with Russia. Anyu Angelov, Bulgaria's defence minister, stated on 5 July that the country was ''not adequate'' for hosting elements of the US anti-missile shield, the Bulgarian press reported.
US President Barack Obama has repeatedly said that a strategic anti-missile shield, intended to protect US forces and their allies from missile attacks of rogue states such as Iran, is not targeted against Russia.
However, Moscow still sees the project as a major irritant. Romania has officially accepted to host the shield (EurActiv 05/02/10), while according to media reports, Bulgaria could host the system's radar.
Bulgaria will probably not host elements of the missile shield on its territory and will only participate in the financing of the project, Angelov was quoted as saying.
