Russia’s Gas Price Discount for Bulgaria: The Problem of Imperial Economic Projects

For a long time Moscow regarded gas line as the source of increasing revenue and the way to project its global influence. Moscow also believed that gas would be always cheaper than LNG and market for gas is bottomless. Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream have played a crucial role in the setup of the system. However, we see that some problems have emerged recently. There is a clear decline in the prices and interests in Russian gas. It is due to the economic crisis as well as cheap LNG and alternative gas lines. For this very reason, small states like Bulgaria became more assertive towards Russia and compel Moscow to make considerable concessions.