Bulgaria to Lose $0.5 Bln Annualy on South Stream Closure: Politician

MOSCOW, December 4 (Sputnik) — Bulgaria could lose 400 million euro ($492 million) per year from closure of the South Stream gas pipeline as Washington and Brussels use the country as a “pawn,” the chairman of Bulgaria's Attack party Volen Siderov told Sputnik on Thursday.

"Supine submission to Brussels and Washington leads to no good. As a result of this policy Bulgaria could lose 400 million euro per year," Siderov told Sputnik in an interview.

The party chairman also added that "Brussels and Washington have started a rough geopolitical game against Russia, using Bulgaria as a pawn, as a tool in this game."

Siderov told the agency that several months ago, Bulgaria received "a warning" from the US ambassador to the country and a delegation of senators led by John McCain. The country's then Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski was “literally forced to terminate the construction of the South Stream. Bulgaria obeyed," the politician said.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the cancellation of the South Stream pipeline project as Bulgaria was unable to commit to the deal due to pressure from the European Union. The same day, the chief of Russia’s energy giant Gazprom Alexei Miller announced a major pipeline project to Turkey using the previously planned Black Sea route.

Europe is currently largely dependent on Russia for energy resources. Russia remains the European Union’s largest source of energy imports, accounting for approximately 32 percent of the bloc’s energy imports in 2012, according to European Commission statistics.