Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev left Wednesday for Moscow and
Kiev for gas crisis talks, as Russian supplies to Sofia were halted for
a ninth day due to a spat between Russia and Ukraine.
Stanishev's press office said in a statement that he would meet with
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his residence in Novo Ogaryovo
at 1 pm local time (1000 GMT).
He will also meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Gazprom officials, the statement said.
Stanishev will then leave for Kiev for talks with Premier Yulia
Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko and maintain "constant
contact over the phone with European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso to inform him about the development of talks in both Moscow and
Kiev," it added.
Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov and the head of
Bulgaria's Energy Holding that owns the state gas monopoly Bulgargaz,
Galina Tosheva, are traveling with Stanishev.
Bulgaria, which receives 92% of its gas from Russia via Ukraine, was
among the worst hit by their gas row. Industrial gas users were
subjected to severe rationing to save gas for heating plants which
supply a fourth of the population with heating and hot water.
Supplies in the country's sole gas storage depot at Chiren in the
northwest were only enough to cover half of consumers' gas needs for a
period of about 100 days. But officials warned that falling pressure in
the depot would force them to further cut supplies to companies,
leaving some of them to function at the so-called technical minimum.
Bulgaria has no access to any alternative gas routes or suppliers.