Bulgaria's Ex-Prime Minister Sues Predecessor For Defamation Over Russian Gas Supplies

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2022) Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against another former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov for defamation over Russian gas deliveries to the country.

Earlier in the day, Borisov's GERB party accused Petkov's government of buying gas from Russian energy giant Gazprom through subsidiaries in Romania at a price of 110 Euros ($109.72) instead of 86 euros they would pay if buying directly from the company. The party noted that the government was buying gas from a Romanian entity, which is a subsidiary of Gazprom Switzerland, after publicly cutting off ties with Russia, but was doing it at a higher price, and suggested that the profits were going to Petkov's party We Continue the Change through offshores. Shortly after, Petkov said that he would sue Borisov for defamation, with a claim for 500,000 leva (some $255,000).

"This man has already been sentenced for defamation, a proven liar. I'm tired of this type of lies being told from morning till night in the media. The lies that I accuse him of, for all the middlemen, the commissions that he talks about. We have to stop these types of old liars with their thuggish ways from changing the main topic of the day," Petkov said after filing a suit, as quoted by the Bulgarian National Television.

Petkov added that the Bulgarian government had reached an agreement with the United States on the supplies of liquefied natural gas at a price $30 lower than the European one.

The situation with gas supplies in Bulgaria escalated in late April when Gazprom stopped deliveries to the country due to non-payment in rubles under a new scheme introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.