Moscow reaction to South Stream halt

Russia's EU envoy has slammed Bulgaria's decision to suspend work on a Kremlin-backed South Stream gas pipeline under pressure from Brussels, calling it a "creeping shift to economic sanctions against Russia."

"It is hard to shake off the feeling that the European Commission's blocking of the start of work on the construction of Bulgaria's key section of South Stream has been done for purely political purposes," Vladimir Chizhov told the state news agency ITAR-TASS.

South Stream work stopped

Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski announced on Sunday that he had ordered all work on the project to be stopped. The decision came after the EU asked Bulgaria to suspend work on the multinational pipeline designed to bring Russian gas to Europe while bypassing crisis-hit Ukraine.

The South Stream pipeline, financed by Russia's state gas giant Gazprom, would ship gas to western Europe via the Balkans, thus avoiding Ukraine.But the European Commission says the pipeline may break EU competition rules and asked Bulgaria to suspend work.

Also Monday, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said construction of his country's stretch of the pipeline was continuing, disputing a report that it had followed Bulgaria in halting work.

The US and the EU have placed visa bans and travel restrictions on some of President Vladimir Putin's closest aides over Moscow's takeover of Crimea and amid allegations that the Kremlin is fueling unrest in the east of the ex-Soviet country in the worst East-West standoff since the end of the Cold War.

Sofia has chosen a consortium led by Stroytransgaz - a Russian company subject to US sanctions - to build the Bulgarian section of the pipeline whose construction was launched by Putin in 2012.

Serbian involvement

Serbia's prime minister has denied his country has also halted building work.

Reports on Sunday had quoted Serbian ministers as saying the work was on hold until the EU, Russia and Bulgaria resolved their dispute. But speaking on Monday, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said no such decision had been made.

Serbia is in talks with the EU on joining the bloc. Bulgaria is already an EU member state.

The European Commission says Bulgaria may have broken EU public procurement laws by choosing local and Russian bidders for its part of the pipeline, and earlier this month, asked Bulgaria to stop work.

Edited from source by Elizabeth Corner

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/11062014/moscow_reaction_to_south_stream_halt/