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Bulgaria may stop gas transit from Russia if payment solution not found — minister

As Vladimir Malinov explained, at the moment, the Bulgarian state gas company Bulgargaz has received all payments

SOFIA, December 10. /TASS/. Bulgaria may stop gas transit from Russia to Serbia and Hungary if Gazprom fails to find a way to make payments amid US sanctions, Vladimir Malinov, Bulgarian Energy Minister, said as quoted by Bloomberg.

"Bulgartransgaz will strictly fulfill its contract and won’t allow the transit of natural gas if the service hasn’t been paid for," he told reporters.

As the minister explained, at the moment, the Bulgarian state gas company Bulgargaz has received all payments. He also added that Bulgaria is now waiting for proposals from Gazprom.

Gazprombank remains the sole authorized bank to process payments for Russian gas. Certain countries like Hungary already applied for an exemption from sanctions to keep supplies.

The US introduced sanctions against Gazprombank in late November.

Hungary still receives the bulk of its gas from Russia under long-term contracts with Gazprom. In 2022, 4.8 billion cubic meters of gas entered the country via the TurkStream pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia. According to Hungarian data, this figure increased to 5.6 billion cubic meters in 2023.