BELGRADE, October 19. /TASS/. Bulgaria's decision to raise the cost of transit of Russian gas through its territory jeopardizes the energy security of the entire south-eastern Europe, general manager of the Srbijagaz company Dusan Bajatovic said.

"This is a discriminatory measure, which now suggests that Serbia, Hungary and, possibly, some consumers in Austria and Slovakia have been punished," Bajatovic said as quoted by the Tanjug news agency.

"There is a political game being waged, probably on the part of the United States and the European Commission, but I do not understand why European countries are being punished. If it comes to the point that Gazprom does not fulfill its obligation and does not pay these hundred euros, then someone will say that the service has not been paid and gas transportation cannot be continued. This is a terrible situation for the entire south of Eastern Europe," he added.

He voiced the opinion that the tariff increase is an attempt to "punish Russia" because of the situation in Ukraine, for which the West blames Moscow.

"It is also interesting that this [decision] was not made by the European Commission, the law was adopted by Bulgaria. Secondly, this is some kind of promotion of LNG, which is an absolutely political measure. This is a discriminatory measure in the market, and there are no conditions to introduce it," Bajatovic stressed.

Earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Bulgaria's decision to increase transit costs is a problem for Serbia and Belgrade, together with Budapest, has to react.

On October 17, Serbia and Hungary prepared a joint statement indicating that Bulgaria's decision to increase the rate for gas transit from Russia is a hostile move towards them and also "threatens the security of energy supply" of the two countries.

On October 13, the Bulgarian parliament introduced an additional tariff of 20 levs (about 10 euros) per MWh for the transit of Russian gas flowing through the TurkStream pipeline and its branches to Serbia and then to Hungary.