Bulgarian PM Kiril Petkov and US President Joe Biden discussed corruption in Bulgaria and Putin's influence

Ways to reduce energy prices were discussed today, March 25, by the EU leaders together with US President Joe Biden in Brussels. Additional quantities of liquefied natural gas have been promised to flow from the United States to Europe in an attempt to break Russian energy dependence. In Brussels, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and Joe Biden also discussed the issue of corruption as an instrument used by Putin to advance his interests. PM Petkov gave the so-called "Turk Stream" gas pipeline as an example.

Talks and meetings on the war in Ukraine continue on Monday, in Sofia, where the leaders of NATO countries in South-Eastern Europe are meeting.

I had chance to talk with Biden after our joint meeting and he said: 'I absolutely believe what you are saying’, Bulgarian PM continued: I gave the example of the "Turk Stream" (Russian) as we know it in Bulgaria. The fact is that 3 billion of our money was spent on a pipe that we cannot use. This is the tool - you work with the political establishment, if you were Putin, you make them spend national money on your projects and you work it through corruption. It turns out that it's not just in Bulgaria, it's an instrument that Putin has used to implement his geopolitical goals in the Balkans. It is very important now for the Western Balkans to move as much as possible in the direction of stability, because one of the concerns that was expressed yesterday is that there is also quite a strong influence there, Prime Minister Petkov said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who addressed European leaders in a videoconference, thanked Bulgaria for its support for his country. PM Kirill Petkov thanked the Bulgarians who last night took part in the peaceful demonstration in support of Ukraine.

First of all, I thank all the people who came out to the square yesterday, Bulgaria should also speak out - not just say that politicians support Ukraine, but that the Bulgarian people support Ukraine - that is the stronger message. I really do ask all the people who I know have been critical that we need to have a clearer, stronger position, to watch Zelensky's interview from yesterday - he distinguishes very clearly between which countries he sees as fully supporting Ukraine and obviously thanking us for what we are doing and countries that he has concerns for what they are doing. Watch it, we are one of the group of the friendliest, most supportive countries. Everybody who was in the square yesterday, I urge them, I think one of the media outlets had the whole interview, watch it, the PM said.

PM Petkov: Negotiations with EC on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan have been completed at technical level

During the meeting, Kiril Petkov posted a selfie with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on his Facebook account. In the text to the photo he says that the negotiations on the technical level for the Recovery and Resilience Plan are completed and he expects von der Leyen to come to Bulgaria soon to officially announce the news about the approval of the plan.

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