Today, Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and her delegation are meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Later in the day, our foreign minister will also meet with the Bulgarian community in Moscow.

This is the first visit of a Bulgarian foreign minister to Russia since 2011. The main focus of the talks between Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is on developing and deepening bilateral relations with an emphasis on energy and trade.

In view of the forthcoming summit between Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Turkey Recep Erdogan, of course, the situation in Syria will be the focus of attention and the meeting of Zaharieva and Lavrov.

In an officially spread Russian position before the start of the meeting, the focus is on energy projects, construction of the Turkish Stream and its route on our territory, and the transfer of Russian gas to Europe, the modernization of Units 5 and 6 of Kozloduy NPP and the possible Russian participation in the construction of Belene NPP.