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Bulgarian Presidency.eu (16 April 2018)

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev will visit Russia on 21 and 22 May. This was reported by the Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow.

“On May 21-22, President Radev will be in Moscow,” a diplomat was quoted as saying today (16 April).

The secretariat of the Bulgarian President announced that the visit was on the occasion of the Day of Bulgarian Culture and Literature, celebrated on 24 May. The administration of the head of state said the dates for a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Bulgaria were in the process of negotiation.

Last year Radev invited Putin to visit Bulgaria. Since then it was understood that the visit will take place after the 18 March Russian presidential election.

Radev commented on his forthcoming visit today during a short briefing, stressing that “the Bulgarian cultural, world and civil contribution cannot be a hostage to political confrontation”.”It is in times of confrontation that we must maintain dialogue. We must seek common interests in the fight against terrorism and seek ways to reduce this tension, “he said.

Radev added that Bulgaria’s main objective is to achieve diversification of gas and energy supplies. “With this in mind, we must do our best to get as many delivery points and routes as possible. This will mean greater security, greater opportunities and lower prices”, he said.

Bulgaria hopes that the second pipe of the Turkish Stream pipeline under the Black Sea reaches Varna, instead of the European Turkish territory. In such a case, the pipeline would be called ‘Balkan’ and would feed a gas hub with the same name, near Varna.

At present Bulgaria is dependent of almost 100% of its gas from Russian imports via Ukraine. If Turkish Stream is built, it is very likely that Bulgaria will be dependent from Russian gas imported from Turkey.

Radev gave today a lecture on “Socio-economic Development of Bulgaria – Challenges and Perspectives” to students, ambassadors and official guests at the University of National and World Economy, in which he criticized the parliament, the executive and the judiciary.

“At the moment, Bulgaria looks like a building site where something is been built, but we do not know exactly what it is because it is dark. Some people carry building material and come back for more – at that time others steal it because it’s dark. Some people are in charge of the construction, they dangle construction plans, but some other people from the dark actually manage them”, Radev said.

In his words, it is not known who the real owners, the builders and the real value of the site and what exactly and to whom is paid because it is dark. “The media do not show the truth because they cannot see it in the dark or because they do not want to see it”, the President said.

For the president, one thing is clear – in this situation, the young and enterprising and the few foreign investors leave the construction site and look for another. “It is high time to switch on the spotlights – this is the most important and urgent thing we need to do for Bulgaria, so that Bulgaria will continue to exist. We need to shed light over the processes in the country, it should be transparent who are the owners, the public decisions and the spending of public money should be transparent, we should have clear rules that apply to everyone”, he urged.

Asked if he would launch a political party, he said he was president of all Bulgarians, but that he expected new political projects to emerge if the political disappointment of the people continues to grow.

http://bulgarianpresidency.eu/bulgarias-president-rumen-radev-will-visit-russia-on-21-22-may/