Energy to Dominate Bulgaria's PM Talks With Putin

After President Rumen Radev paved the way towards improved Bulgarian-Russian relations last week, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will follow up by visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 30.

Both the meeting and the date were announced by the Russian side last week, with the Bulgarian authorities maintaining a low profile. BIRN asked the Council of Ministers for more details last week, but received no response.

The only official information in Sofia has come from Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, who told National Television on Friday that the visit had been planned for months and was not urgent.

She added that economics, tourism and energy were the topics on the agenda.

The announcement of the visit came during a statement made by Putin after his meeting with Radev last Tuesday. 

"I would now not comment on any particular economic questions ... We will have the pleasure to discuss these with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria in a few days' time," the Russian President said.

Over the following days, the diplomat and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov informed Russian media of the particular day the meeting will take place - May 30, quoted by Russia's TASS agency.

Although the Russian President did not mention what topics he had in mind, his invitation to Borissov comes just a week after the Bulgarian government announced its plans to "unfreeze" the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project.

On Monday last week, Radev also proposed the restart of the "South Stream" gas pipeline under the name "Bulgarian Stream", after talking to Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev.

According to Russia specialist Dimitar Bechev, from the University of North Carolina, energy projects are the main driver of the rapprochement...