Bulgaria Should Follow Germany's Example By Expanding Trade With Russia - Ambassador

Bulgaria should develop its economic cooperation with Moscow despite the sanctions regime, as other Western countries, such as Germany, have done, Bulgarian Ambassador to Russia Atanas Krastin said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th June, 2019) Bulgaria should develop its economic cooperation with Moscow despite the sanctions regime, as other Western countries, such as Germany, have done, Bulgarian Ambassador to Russia Atanas Krastin said on Friday.

"It is necessary to develop economic cooperation with Russia regardless of sanctions as our Western partners are doing. Some of them have impressive trade volumes with Russia. Germany, for example," Krastin said a conference at the Russian State Institute of International Relations.

The diplomat added that the cooperation should be developed based on the principles of competition, transparency and reliability.

According to customs figures, Russian-German trade increased by 8.4 percent last year, exceeding 61 million Euros (about $69 million).

Relations between Moscow and the West deteriorated in 2014 after Crimea reunified with Russia and an armed conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine. The European Union and the United States imposed restrictive measures against Russian individuals, companies and economic sectors. Moscow has responded by imposing restrictions on food imports from the countries that supported the sanctions.