Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office is going to investigate the contracts that the Stanishev government made with energy giant Gazprom for the supplies of Russian natural gas.

This has been announced Thursday by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov who said he was convinced that the investigation will lead to “severe charges” against certain people. He explained he was referring the deals to the prosecutors in order to end all manipulations through the media.

Borisov’s announcement comes on the day when Bulgaria’s natural gas prices were increased by a staggering 25%. GERB’s Economy Minister Traicho Traikov has blamed the hike on “unfavorable” deal made in 2006 between the former government of PM Sergey Stanishev and Gazprom.

A day earlier, on Wednesday, Stanishev and former Economy and Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov denied any guilt for the natural gas price increase and claimed they had defended Bulgaria’s national interest in renegotiating the contracts with Gazprom.

Traikov said Thursday that under the pre-2006 agreement Bulgaria got Russian natural gas for USD 83 per 1000 cubic meters but Ovcharov agreed to alter it according to Gazprom’s demands under which the sum that Bulgaria paid for Russian natural gas is supposed to reach the market prices over a transition period from April 1, 2007, till December 31, 2012.

Borisov promised that the analysis of the Gazprom deals that will be presented to Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev will be very thorough. He mentioned an “Article 5.2” which is said to be outrageous in its content. The Bulgarian-Russian natural gas contracts are classified. The PM mentioned he was made aware of the precise figures and terms in them on Thrusday.

He denied the claims of the Socialists that Bulgaria could lose BGN 7 B if it sought to change the existing agreements with Gazprom, and said that Bulgarian expert are setting out to Gazprom’s headquarters in Moscow for gas price negotiations.

“You know that we want to remove all intermediaries, and to reduce gas prices. It is one thing to have good relations but defending the interests of the Bulgarian people is the duty of every politician. Just as PM Putin is defending the Russian interests, we are going to defend the Bulgarian interests,” Borisov stated while expressing hopes that he will reach an agreement with his Russian counterpart to achieve balanced relations.

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