TIRANA, October 29 – Hungary and Serbia are supporting the Kremlin’s military machine and not looking for alternative energy sources amid intensifying disputes over a tax on Russian gas imports, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said, Bloomberg has reported.
Denkov announced on Friday that his government intends to impose a tax on Russian natural gas transiting through Bulgaria. The prime minister’s goal is to cut off profits for Russia’s Gazprom, which are used to finance the war against Ukraine.
Hungary has called the measure an “act of hostility”, while Serbia has claimed the tax threatens to cut off essential fuel supplies to the region.
“There was enough time to look for alternatives, to see that these profits are fueling Putin’s war machine,” Denkov said in response, according to Bloomberg.
On October 17, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Russian president Vladimir Putin in China – their first meeting since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A meeting was also held between Putin and Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic, who attended the same event in Beijing. /argumentum.al
