Bulgaria has taken a step backwards in just two months with respect to Ukraine. The coalition government, which brings together the center-right and center-left, has had second thoughts: the sale, to Kiev, of two unused Russian nuclear reactors has been cancelled.
These are the VVER-1000s, which Bulgaria had purchased several years ago and which it was supposed to use in the Belene nuclear power plant: a project that was later abandoned in favor of another plant, that of Kozloduj, where Sofia chose to exploit American technology.
Consequently, the Russian nuclear reactors have been stored for several years and, since they were unused, their sale to Ukraine was planned, but this did not happen. The Socialist Party (BSP) opposed this.
In reality, Bulgaria had confirmed the sale of the reactors last February 13 and the change of heart is the result of differences within the government. Political instability has led to the alternation of several executives in the last year and the current government, which took office in mid-January, brings together some conservative, pro-European parties and the Socialist Party, which is instead closer to Russia.
Confirmation of the sale of the reactors to Ukraine had come from Boyko Borissov, who leads the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB). The Parliament had also approved the operation but the Socialist Party put a spoke in the wheel, with Zafirov however claiming that the decision was shared by all the parties in the coalition.
Ukraine is therefore left holding the baby. The aim was to purchase nuclear reactors for the Khmelnytskyi plant to compensate for the unavailability of the Zaporizhzhia plant, currently controlled by the Russians.
The Ukrainian Parliament had approved the purchase, worth 600 million euros. In any case, it would have been financed by Kiev's Western allies.
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