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Following the recent alleged attempt by the Ukrainian special services to attack the TurkStream pipeline in Russia, Bulgaria has taken measures to secure Balkan Stream, a continuation of the same pipeline that delivers gas to customers in Europe.
Bulgaria has stepped up surveillance and security at sites of its critical energy infrastructure, including the Balkan Stream gas pipeline, the Bulgarian counterintelligence agency said on Thursday.
Euractiv pressed the agency for comment following reports of a possible attempt by Ukraine to sabotage part of the TurkStream gas pipeline infrastructure in Russia, and received a response, despite the agency rarely responding to journalistic questions.
“Measures have been taken to monitor and strengthen the protection of significant objects of the critical infrastructure and to counter destructive actions through effective coordination and interaction of all competent institutions in the country and through the established mechanisms for cooperation in the EU and NATO,” the agency said in a written response.
After Ukraine stopped gas deliveries through its territory on 1 January, TurkStream and Blue Stream became the only pipelines that bring Russian gas under the Black Sea to the European territory of Turkey.
From Turkey, TurkStream continues through Bulgaria, where it is called Balkan Stream, and currently supplies gas to Serbia and Hungary. Bulgaria has stopped importing Russian gas but continues its transit under contracts signed before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Ukraine is suspected of another attack on major Russian pipeline infrastructure. After mysterious explosions hit the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near Denmark in September 2022, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly told Belgian secret services that Ukraine could be responsible.
TurkStream/Balkan Stream is crucial for Budapest and Belgrade, and following the suspension of supplies through Ukraine, an increase in the transit of Russian gas volumes through Bulgaria to Central Europe is expected. While Bulgaria does not use TurkStream/Balkan Stream gas, it earns more than €100 million a year from transit fees.
“Given the complicated geopolitical situation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and security challenges on a global and regional level difficult to predict, the protection of strategic objects and activities is a top priority for the state,” the Bulgarian agency added.
Both the strategic gas pipeline and other installations are at risk, the agency said, pointing to a series of sabotage attacks on military installations, which the prosecutor’s office has blamed on Russian saboteurs.
Ilian Vassilev, a former Bulgarian ambassador to Russia and well-known energy expert, said that there was “no possibility” that the Ukrainian secret services would sabotage the TurkStream pipeline on the territory of EU and NATO member Bulgaria.
In Russia, however, Ukraine can strike legitimately, he added.
‘Legitimate target’
For Vassilev, the real risk for the transit through Bulgaria comes from the fact that a key element of the compressor stations are on the territory of Russia, which is a “legitimate military target”.
“In wartime, all targets are legitimate, including the [TurkStream] gas pipeline compressor station in Russia”, he told Euractiv.
According to Vassilev, more than 300 billion cubic meters of gas, worth $12 billion, pass through this station on Russian soil.
Part of this money goes to the Russian military budget and “finances the purchase of bombs and murders of Ukrainians,” the former Bulgarian diplomat added.
In his words, if someone in Bulgaria or Europe claims that the Ukrainians are terrorists because they attack targets where Russian gas is supplied, they are wrong.
“This is because from 2022 the EU has made it clear that anyone who wants to participate in supporting Ukraine should diversify their energy sources. Fico and Orban did not come on board,” Vassilev said.
He recalled that in January, 10 EU member states insisted on tougher sanctions against Russia by introducing additional restrictions on natural gas exports and tightening control over the implementation of the oil price ceiling.
“Bulgaria is not in this process. The authorities in Sofia are permanently in the ‘TurkStream’ group of countries”, he said.
Bulgaria is part of a group of countries that have committed themselves to the transit and servicing of Russian gas that fills Moscow’s coffers, he added.
Bulgaria systematically takes positions against limiting and banning the transit of Russian gas, which might seem strange because Gazprom interrupted gas supplies to Bulgaria and caused enormous damage.
“Despite this, Bulgaria transports Russian gas and we pretend that nothing happened,” Vassilev also said.
A 2020 journalistic investigation by Euractiv described how then Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov gave Gazprom the keys to the Balkans by building Balkan Stream.
The end of TurkStream?
Martin Vladimirov, a prominent energy expert at the influential CSD think tank, was adamant that TurkStream’s days were numbered.
“Do you really think Turkstream will ever pay for itself? It is a matter of time, and a very short one, for the gas pipeline to stop. And Bulgaria, instead of preparing for this moment, should take matters into its own hands and be the one who cuts off supplies,” Vladimirov said.
According to him, Bulgaria has many legal, geopolitical and economic reasons to stop the transit of Russian gas.
“Bulgaria is getting ridiculously low fees for [transiting gas] on TurkStream at the moment. The country can increase revenues by becoming a major transit country for alternative supplies of LNG to Europe…and in larger quantities than the current TurkStream. It only takes courage and political will,” he added.
Euractiv asked the Ukrainian embassy to the EU to comment on allegations that the country’s secret services are targeting pipeline infrastructure carrying Russian gas. Euractiv did not receive a response by the time of publication.
[Edited by Daniel Eck]
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