Bulgaria Was Pressured to Choose between Turkey, Russia - PM

Bulgarian Prime Minister has admitted that Sofia was asked to take a side after tensions rose between Russia and Turkey over the downing of a Russian warplane.

"When the two titans clashed, we were required either to say that we are pro-Turkish or that we are pro-Russian. We are neither," he said at the tenth annual meeting between the government and business representatives organized by Capital weekly.

EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn also attended the government-businesses meeting themed "Bulgaria in Global Insecurity. Risks and opportunities for the economy".

President Rosen Plevneliev delivered a speech at the opening.

"We as a state have our clear Euro-Atlantic policy and want to have neighborly relations and I hope they also understand this."

The Prime Minister opined that Russia had tried to punish Bulgaria "for being a true Euro-Atlantic member and complying with the rules of the European Commission" by seeking to build Turkish Stream and sending nuclear reactors from the terminated Belene nuclear power plant to the one Russia is building in Turkey.

Borisov warned that new early elections would bring the country to a state of instability, and a new cabinet would be much more difficult to make.

He made clear that, with a presidential election due in the autumn, there would not be many opportunities to talk with political opponents such as the socialists from BSP, the DPS, nationalist Ataka, or right-wing DSB which switched to opposition after having been part of the government for more than a year.

"War is looming at least until this time of next year," he said, referring to the expectation of heightened tensions among political parties as part of the election campaign.

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