How I "love" these sensational headlines like "Bulgaria threatened to halt gas transit due to sanctions against Gazprombank. They threatened, blackmailed, put a gun to their temple, and pulled the trigger."
Diving into the original news, we read the direct statement from the acting Minister of Energy of Bulgaria, Vladimir Malinov: "Bulgartransgaz expects Gazprom to inform how it will pay for the gas transit from Turkey through Bulgaria to Serbia (until now, payments were made through Gazprombank, but in November it fell under U.S. sanctions).
Acting Minister of Energy of Bulgaria, Vladimir Malinov. Photo © TASS / EPA/DUMITRU DORU
No mention of "money on the barrel, or else!" Furthermore, the minister goes on to say that as of today, "Bulgartransgaz" has fulfilled its contractual obligations on time and the operator has received all due payments. Currently, there are no outstanding debts.
This means the discussion revolves around how Gazprom, which has reserved capacities and previously conducted payments through Gazprombank, will handle this in the future. Only in this regard did the minister express concern that the issue might lead to a halt in transit (which, obviously, he would prefer to avoid). Moreover, Malinov hinted that until December 20, the sanctions against GPB had not yet come into effect, so it is possible to transfer the money in advance.
As we can see, there is no false confrontation. In fact, the problem currently lies more with the Europeans than with Russia. It is the EU that is now trying to negotiate with the U.S. to ease sanctions against Gazprombank or at least to allow payments through its Luxembourg subsidiary, because, I quote, "sanctions against Gazprombank pose a threat to supply security in the region."
At the same time, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Erkhov, stated, "Let me remind you that Russia accounts for over 40% of the gas consumed by Turkey. In this context, the actions of the U.S. (regarding sanctions against Gazprombank. — Note from Rogers) present an immediate risk to Turkey's energy security, especially considering the upcoming winter heating season."
This means that the new U.S. sanctions once again hit the EU and Turkey. But this is certainly not a new development. Overall, firstly, countermeasures can be found for any sanctions (for instance, Putin has already permitted mutual settlement of payments), and secondly, the more the American dictatorship pressures the Europeans, the stronger their desire to rid themselves of it will become.