Bulgarian far-right provokes clash with Ukrainian nuclear experts

Supporters of Bulgaria’s pro-Russian far-right Vazrazhdane (Revival) party clashed with a Ukrainian delegation of nuclear experts at the site where the Belene nuclear power plant was expected to be built, in a video shared by the pro-Russian party on social media on Tuesday.

When specialists from the Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom came to Belene to inspect the equipment they intend to buy from Bulgaria as part of a visit organised by the Bulgarian parliament, they stumbled on a protest organised by Vazrazhdane.

“Vazrazhdane stopped a Ukrainian delegation that came to take free Belene reactors. Together we can do anything,” Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov, who shared a video with his supporters stopping the Ukrainian delegation’s car and eventually managing to push it back as police arrived at the scene much later, wrote on Facebook.

Polls put Vazrazhdane’s support at 13-15%, giving the party a chance of winning four of Bulgaria’s 17 seats in the European Parliament. Until now, the Bulgarian far right, represented by the VMRO (ECR), has had two MEPs in the European Parliament.

In March, after visiting Moscow at Putin’s United Russia party’s invitation, Vazrazhdane announced that it had become a member of the far-right EU group Identity and Democracy (ID).

Bulgaria has two Russian nuclear reactors, which Atomstroyexport supplied more than six years ago for the failed Belene nuclear power plant project. A few years ago, the government in Sofia abandoned the Russian reactor project and decided to continue the development of the existing nuclear power plant in Kozloduy, using nuclear reactors from the US company Westinghouse.

Last July, the parliament in Sofia obliged the government to start negotiations with Ukraine on the sale of nuclear reactors for at least €600 million. This is the price that Bulgaria’s state-owned National Electricity Company paid to Russia’s Atomstroyexport for two reactors, steam generators, and other equipment. Parliament gave the government 30 days to negotiate with Kyiv.

Negotiations on the reactors have been slow until recently because Kyiv was waiting for the US Congress to vote on the aid package for Ukraine. The European Commission has also said that a potential deal for the reactors could be funded with money the EU provides to aid Ukraine.

The deal between Bulgaria and Ukraine is unique because only Bulgaria has the two Russian reactors it does not need, and Ukraine is the only country that could benefit from them.

Bulgarian civil activist Arman Babikyan was the first to report the attack on Ukrainian nuclear specialists.

“I ask the Ministry of Interior to answer for an incident against Ukrainian experts at Belene NPP by representatives of Vazrazhdane???? I hope the state will not pass by these actions with silence!!!” Babikyan wrote on Facebook.

The incident occurred on Monday. By late afternoon on Tuesday, state institutions had not reacted.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)

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