Petrova: Black Sea ship attacks could be raised at EU foreign ministers' meeting Monday
Bulgaria's foreign minister told BNT that Kyiv has provided no evidence on where the drones came from, and said gas supplies to Ukraine via Turkey are under discussion.
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Attacks on two merchant ships in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone could be raised at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, Oct. 12, Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova said in an interview with state broadcaster BNT on Saturday. She said the facts point to an escalation and a spread of the conflict into the Black Sea, and that security in the region should be handled at EU and NATO level rather than only nationally.
Asked about NATO's Article 4, Petrova said the necessary consultations had in effect taken place in the days after the incidents, whether or not the procedure was formally invoked. Her ministry had received no information from Ukraine backing the claim that the drones were Russian, she said, and Bulgaria had not passed such data to Kyiv either. A lasting solution, she said, requires peace and genuine negotiations.
Petrova also said supplies of Bulgarian gas to Ukraine via Turkey are being discussed, depending on an agreement between grid operator Bulgartransgaz and Ukraine's Naftogaz and on sufficient transit volumes. Bulgaria will host a summit on the so-called Middle Corridor next spring, prepared jointly with the European Commission.