The first meeting of the temporary parliamentary committee to investigate the missing and now hacked road map for the construction of the continuation of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline on Bulgarian territory to Serbia failed. After disputes over who should provide what data in the case, rules for the work of the commission were never adopted, nor was the former energy minister from the second and third cabinets of GERB, Temenuzka Petkova, who in 2017 signed the document in question (called by her ” commemorative note”) with the head of Gazprom Alexey Miller.
After no one was heard, but the on-duty accusations were exchanged, “Continuing the change-Democratic Bulgaria” arranged their own hearing on the subject of the map, in which representatives of the hacker group BG Elves (“Bulgarian elves”), which published in the beginning of March – just at the time of the resignation of the government of Nikolay Denkov, the hacked documents from the mail of a Russian representative.
The meeting of the temporary parliamentary committee, led not by its chairman Dragomir Stoynev from the BSP, who could not attend, but by the People’s Representative of the DPS Ramadan Atalay by order of the parliamentary chief.
Venko Sabrutev from the PP-DB requested that a hearing be included in the agenda, apart from Petkova and the official energy minister, the Inspectorate at the Ministry of Energy, the Elves and the analyst Iliyan Vasilev. Atalay agreed to this, but in the future and after the people in question present materials and reports to the commission, so that its members can familiarize themselves with them in advance.
Tomislav Donchev from GERB asked DANS to submit to the commission a copy of the road map for the project, for which two years ago the chairman of the agency said that there was one and it was provided to the then Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.
The copy in question is also mentioned in a 2022 Council of Ministers report on the gas project, which was handed over to the prosecutor’s office, but nothing substantial followed.
Alexander Nenkov from GERB requested that former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov be heard in the case, during which the inspection was carried out, in which the copy of the road map provided by DANS was mentioned.
Donchev also noted that in the case of the continuation of “Turkish Stream” there is a huge volume of information both in the secret office of the Council of Ministers and in military intelligence, which is classified.
Stanislav Anastasov from DPS declared himself against the hearing of Iliyan Vasilev and the Elves in the commission. He stated that some of the documents were classified information and commercial secrets and asked how the experts and organizations invited to the hearing had them.
It was commented, but it was not understood, whether for the next meeting the temporary commission will demand from Bulgartransgaz information about all market tests and procedures for reserving capacity under the project to expand the Bulgarian gas transmission network, as well as the revenues and expenses for the operation.
“You turned it into a pre-election fair. This card was found much earlier and you, like some scumbags, hid it,” said Toshko Yordanov, the MP from “Ima talik narod”
After a series of proposals by the various parliamentary groups, even the rules for the commission’s work were never voted on, and the meeting was closed, and the PP-DB organized an alternative hearing of the Elves and Iliyan Vassilev in the parliament. He was not told new things that have not already been commented on in the public space about the content of the leaked documents from the hacked e-mail of Yevgeny Zobnin, an aide to the Russian politician Alexander Babakov, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Petko Petkov – one of the representatives of BG Elves, announced that the published documents related to the realization of the continuation of “Turkish Stream” are authentic. The elves are to provide all the documents to the parliamentary committee and publish the full technical information about them so that everyone can be sure that these are the original documents.
The leaked documents show that after the announcement of the order for the construction of the gas pipeline in 2019, a tripartite meeting was held in Istanbul between the Russian, Arab (Saudi Arabia) and Bulgarian countries because of the tender for the selection of the construction contractor.
From the disclosed correspondence, it is also clear that the Saudi company “Arcade” began preparations for the construction, even before the order for it was even announced.
Analyst Iliyan Vassilev noted the fact that since the beginning of the Russian war in Ukraine, no gas infrastructure has been attacked, due to an unspoken agreement on the possible extension of Russian gas transit through Ukraine, the contract for which expires at the end of 2024.
After statements by the Ukrainian side that this will not happen, attacks on gas storage facilities in Ukraine began, and 20 days ago the Russians also hit the largest production and drilling area in the country – Shebelinka, near Kharkiv, recalled Iliyan Vassilev.
In his words, it is “a matter of life and death” for Putin to find a new route for the transfer of gas to Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, so as not to stop his flow of money and, accordingly, reduce his influence. This makes Bulgaria the only entrance to the Russian gas in Europe, and this year Russia’s contract with Turkey for the transmission via “Turkish Stream” expires, Vassilev noted. According to him, Bulgaria currently has the strong cards, not Turkey.
This is not the first time that the parliament has dealt with the missing roadmap for the continuation of “Turkish Stream”. Obviously, this one will be as unsuccessful as the previous one.
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