Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov confirmed on Sunday earlier media reports that the Russian foreign ministry had summoned Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow Boyko Kotsev.

 

According to initial reports, Kotsev was summoned to give explanation over the hostile attitude of high-level officials from the Bulgarian government towards Russia and the comment of Borisov that the prices of Russian natural gas sold to Bulgaria were the highest in Europe.

 

Borisov clarified that the Bulgarian ambassador had been summoned over the inspection at the Russian oil company Lukoil.

 

The Bulgarian prime minister noted that all oil companies in Bulgaria have been subject to such inspections, but none of them had protested in such a way.

 

In his words, the government was obliged to do everything possible to satisfy the demand of the people for cheap and quality fuel.

 

According to him, the fact that Russia has been selling natural gas to Bulgaria at the highest prices for decades, forced the country to seek diversification of its supplies and more favourable prices.

 

He added that the Bulgarian orthodox church and the Bulgarian people, as he himself does, share a love for the Russian nation.

 

However he called for distinguishing between history, memory and recognition and calculations as was the case with the fuel prices.

 

Borisov reassured that Bulgaria will not succumb to the Russian diplomacy.

 

This came in response to the recent comment of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Borisov should feel ashamed of his statement that Bulgaria had stopped major Russian-backed energy projects under US pressure.

Borisov reminded that on numerous occasions he had identified the Russian diplomacy as being of extraordinary quality and in his view Lavrov was probably the best diplomat at present.

The Bulgarian prime minister added that he had met Lavrov on numerous occasions, but the Russian foreign minister used each opportunity to arouse tension within the Bulgarian society.