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Balkan PMs hоld talks on crisis coordination in Sofia

Left to right - the PMs of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovačevski, Bulgaria Kiril Petkov, Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapić, and Romania Nicolae Ciucă attended a meeting between heads of government of NATO members in Southeastern Europe in Sofia.
Photo: BGNES

The region is dependent on Russian gas, we discussed how to convert some of the pipelines to work with liquefied gas from Turkey and Greece, we discussed Corridor 8, coordination on migrants, defence strategies and food security, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said after the meeting between the heads of government of NATO countries in Southeast Europe at Boyana residence in Sofia. Attending were the prime ministers of Romania, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

Sofia hosts NATO SE Europe Heads of State Meeting

Moscow is using local-level corruption as an instrument of influence in the Balkan region, Prime Minister Petkov said. Corrupt locals are in many cases agents of foreign interests and we have to deal with them, the Bulgarian prime minister said. 

Petkov said a humanitarian flight from Russia would evacuate Bulgarians today. The Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow is returning with them.

Russia is the most serious threat to our common security and we are aware of its malign influence in the region. We will strengthen our resilience by countering fake news and increasing our energy independence, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said.




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