site.bta Russian Ambassador: Bulgaria Should Have Fought for South Stream

Russian Ambassador: Bulgaria Should Have Fought for South Stream


Rousse, on the Danube, December 5 (BTA) - Russian Ambassador
here Yury Issakov believes that Bulgaria should have fought for
the South Stream gas pipeline project. "I believe that belonging
 to a group or a union such as NATO, the EU or another, does not
 preclude a member state from fighting for its national
interests while observing the group's rules," the Ambassador
said in reply to a reporter's question.

He was in this Danubian town late on Thursday to introduce at a
function the new Russian general consul in Rousse, Tatyana
Groushko. 

"I hear all the time, 'We are a small country, what can we do on
 our own'. This position is not productive. There are other
countries in the EU which are absolutely comparable to Bulgaria
in terms of size, economic power and political clout, and which
find strength to stand up for their national interests. Here
something is lacking and this something is political will," said
 Issakov.

The Ambassador believes that the South Stream project "was a
gift from the skies". "Has anybody else offered Bulgaria
something like South Stream? When one gets such an opportunity,
one has to fight for it and even bear teeth, if necessary, to
stand up for one's national interests."

"If one keeps saying that one is small and can do nothing, one
will remain small and doing nothing," the Issakov said.

He believes that it is not clear what will happen in the end
"because in this world everybody is struggling for a place under
 the sun".  President Putin said clearly that the project is
over but he also said that Russia, after bringing gas to the
Turkey-Greece border, will be ready to build a gas hub and a
facility with all necessary infrastructure to supply gas to the
countries of Southeast Europe, including Bulgaria, the
Ambassador noted.