Bulgaria will veto new EU sanctions package against Russia, PM Radev says

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced the country will veto EU sanctions against Russia, citing potential economic harm and opposition to sanctions against a Russian Orthodox bishop.

Bulgaria will veto the latest European Union package of sanctions against ‌Russia because it may have a negative impact on its economy and because the government disagrees with sanctions against a Russian bishop, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on Thursday. The EU expanded its sanctions list on Monday, adding ‌34 individuals and 47 entities linked to Russia's military and industrial complex, its shadow fleet of oil and ‌gas tankers and others involved in political interference activities, including a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church. "There is a significant risk to the operation of Lukoil ," Radev told reporters ahead of a European Council meeting in Brussels, referring to the Russian oil company ⁠that is ​one of the largest motor ⁠fuel retailers in Bulgaria and runs the country's sole refinery, Burgas.

"We want it to be excluded from the list," said Radev, ⁠a pro-Russian eurosceptic who won a parliamentary election in April after stepping down from Bulgaria's largely ceremonial presidency to run in ​the vote. He also cited potential disruption to the supply of spare parts for the Sofia Metro ⁠and of fertilisers.

"All these matters will have to be addressed within the EU's decision-making bodies," Radev said. "In what way have these sanctions so ⁠far ​stopped the war? And in what way have they helped peace at all?" Radev said that Bulgaria does not agree with the sanctions against dignitaries of the Russian Church.

"This war has already moved beyond ⁠the trenches; it extends beyond economics and energy, we can see its impact on culture and sports and now ⁠it only remains for ⁠it to engulf religion as well." However, Radev said that Bulgaria would not obstruct the EU's common decisions on Ukraine.

"We will support the process of negotiations for Ukraine's accession ‌to the ‌EU," he said.