The Bulgarian government has asked Russia to avoid using Bulgaria's gas pipeline network for transit purposes in its South Stream project.

Thus, Russia will have to build a separate gas pipeline in Bulgaria, Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy, Yavor Kuyumdzhiev, stated in an interview on Bulgarian National Radio late Sunday.

Kuyumdzhiev said Sofia was firmly against Moscow's proposal to use the pipeline system of BulgarTransGas to carry the South Stream gas to Europe.

An intergovernmental agreement on the issue is expected to be signed during the energy summit in Sofia on April 24-25 or a day later, when PM Sergey Stanishev leaves for Moscow.

During Minister of Economy and Energy, Petar Dimitrov 's recent visit to Moscow it transpired that Russia firmly supports the realization of the South Stream project and is considering an expansion of its throughput capacity.

Dimitrov also said that the Bulgarian government is in negotiations over new contracts for the supply of Russian natural gas without intermediaries. The question about Russia taking the responsibility for possible halts in the gas supply to Bulgaria in the future was also raised.

Russia's South Stream gas pipeline is designed to annually pump 31 billion cubic meters of Central Asian and Russian gas to the Balkans and on to other European countries. The project involves Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Italy and Greece.