Bulgaria threatens to halt the supply of Russian gas to Europe.

The Bulgarian authorities have announced that they will halt the supply of Russian gas to Europe via the "Turkish Stream" pipeline if Russia fails to pay for transit.

Following the imposition of sanctions by the United States against Gazprombank, the Russian monopoly "Gazprom" has lost the ability not only to receive payments for its gas but also to pay for its delivery, writes Bloomberg.

"Gazprom" settled payments with Bulgartransgaz, which transports its fuel to Serbia and Hungary, through Gazprombank.

However, this option disappeared after sanctions against the bank were introduced on November 21.

Gazprom's application constitutes the majority of the volume of supplies through Bulgaria, for which it must pay transit fees.

"Bulgartransgaz will strictly fulfill its contractual obligations and will not allow the transit of natural gas if the service is not paid for," said Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov to reporters in Sofia.

"It is the responsibility of the company that reserved the capacities and paid through Gazprombank to find a solution if it wants to receive this service," he added, referring to "Gazprom."

Payments for past deliveries have been received; Russia has until December 10 to find a solution, Malinov stated.

Almost 18 billion cubic meters of gas are supplied through Bulgaria to Serbia and Hungary each year; part of this volume also reaches the Western Balkan countries. Since the pipeline's launch in early 2022, Bulgaria has received over $750 million in transit fees.

Hungary has already expressed concern, stating that this poses a threat to Europe's energy security.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that as of January, the transit route through Ukraine, from which gas flows to Hungary and Slovakia, will also cease to operate. Kyiv has announced that it does not intend to extend the contract, which expires at the end of this year.

Background. Recall that Transnistria declared a state of emergency due to the risk of interruption of Russian gas supplies.