site.btaInvestigative Journalists and Energy Experts: Balkan Stream Catered to Putin's Policy, Bulgaria Paid the Bill with No Likelihood of Recouping Investment

Balkan Stream catered directly to Putin’s policy: it allowed him to bypass Ukraine in gas supplies and indirectly facilitated the start of the war in Ukraine, said Lora Georgieva from the Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation. She was speaking at a news conference at BTA's National Press Club, at which investigative journalists and analysts commented on TurkStream/Balkan Stream gas pipeline and a long-lost roadmap for the project which was recently dug out and made public by the BG Elves organization against disinformation. 

Balkan Stream is the Bulgarian extension of TurkStream, which supplies Russian gas to Turkiye, and on to Europe via Bulgaria.

Details about the project implementation and the roadmap for it surfaced after a hack of the email account of Alexander Babakov, Deputy Chairman of Russia's State Duma, where it was made clear that the project serves entirely Russian interests.

Petko Petkov from BG Elves said they had been the first to receive the leaked email messages of Yevgeny Zobnin, Babakov's assistant. There was much encrypted information in the emails, but the passwords were cracked quickly. The lost TurkStream roadmap is only part of the revelations. "Out of all the information, TurkStream is a very small part," Petkov noted. According to him, the emails contain information on how the Russian side negotiates such projects, how it takes a domineering approach and orders Bulgaria around.

Georgieva said Bulgaria does not benefit from TurkStream in any way because it does not receive gas through that pipeline. "Moreover, it serves Putin's policy directly, and indirectly it allowed Putin to start the war because Ukraine is bypassed through TurkStream."

According to Ilian Vassilev, the former Bulgarian ambassador in Moscow who is now an energy analyst, the EU had not approved TurkStream; the extension of the gas network was an EU priority for just two years. "When the project was launched, it was excluded from the priorities," Vassilev said. Bulgaria has not become a gas hub through it because "not a single cubic metre of Russian gas has been sold". Moreover, the project is not part of the expansion of the Bulgarian gas transmission network and does not serve Northern Bulgaria," Vassilev said. "It was a transit project. It was only after it went into operation and the regulator exerted strong pressure that the project was connected with Bulgaria's gas transmission system," the expert said.

Lora Georgieva from the Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation said TurkStream was fully financed by Bulgaria. At least BGN 3 billion was spent without "any prospect that at least part of the money will be recouped".

Journalist Ivailo Stanchev from Capital stressed on the violation of Bulgarian law. "The story which emerged from the emails now, and what sketchy information we had before that, clearly shows a direct violation of legislation. I am referring to the Public Procurement Act, which precludes any kind of agreements, consultations, negotiations, changes of positions, and offers between the top two candidates in the tender," Stanchev said. Inquiries to various state institutions show that nearly 2,000 foreign workers involved in the project in Bulgaria were not issued working visas. 

Atanas Chobanov from bird.bg said "the purpose of TurkStream is to bypass Ukraine, with no gas supplied to Bulgaria".

BOEC deputy leader Lyubomir Venkov said the organization had proved that TurkStream was built entirely under Russian control. Besides, the project is a transit gas pipeline, although it was built using the papers of the South Stream pipeline [which was abandoned by Russia in 2014].

Nikolay Marchenko, Deputy Editor in Chief of the Bivol investigative journalism website, said the Bulgarian institutions are trying to cover up this issue. There were major violations of labour law related to the workers who built the Bulgarian part of TurkStream. There were also environmental violations as forests were cut down without the necessary permits. "Besides, there was a very complex scheme involving offshore companies," Marchenko said.