00:00Hello, Minister. You're in Brussels on Monday for a Foreign Affairs Council meeting where the EU's 21st package of sanctions
00:08against Russia was very much on the agenda.
00:11The head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Patriot Kirill, was removed from what was proposed by the European Commission. Bulgaria was
00:19seen as a champion for this. Why?
00:22Well, we have a very principled approach to the sanctions. Ultimately, we first need to ask the question, why are
00:28we having sanctions?
00:29And the point of sanctions is to apply economic pressure to Russia as a way to bring them to the
00:35negotiating table, as a route to peace and to sustainable negotiations.
00:39When you have sanctions that have purely symbolic measure but no economic consequence on Russia, what you are risking is
00:49that in a country particularly that is an Orthodox country such as Bulgaria,
00:55you create the environment for brewing anti-European rhetoric or a sense that we are intervening with church matters or
01:03even further just creating a martyr figure out of somebody who has been blamed to be triggering propaganda.
01:10So if you are applying sanctions that have no economic impact but in the same time have the risk to
01:18cause division or even worse eurosceptic waves, that's why we are not supporting it.
01:25And that's why we are really happy that in the end the name was dropped out of the sanction package
01:30and now the package is in a way that we can really support.
01:35And we hope that we reach an agreement on this and other countries that still have reservation managed to lift
01:40them soon.
01:41But your predecessor, the former Bulgarian foreign minister, Daniel Mitov, criticised this.
01:47He stated that this isn't a religious decision, that the EU should condemn an individual that uses his status as
01:55the head of Russia's Orthodox Church to justify Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the murder of innocent civilians.
02:02What do you make of this criticism?
02:03I think here we are mixing condemnation with sanctioning.
02:07You can, of course, condemn anybody who's been promoting war.
02:11And that's something that we've done and condemned all sorts of aggression.
02:16However, when we talk about sanctions there, we mean the using of an economic instrument, an instrument that Europe can
02:23apply.
02:23And it's very important for us after 20 packages, now we are close to adopting the 21st, we need to
02:32make sure that we continue to promote and propose sanctions that can have real impact and not devaluing, even to
02:39the public, the view that the sanctions could be anything else but a tool to bring Russia closer to the
02:45negotiating table and apply economic pressure to Russia higher than to any member state.
02:50This should be the ultimate purpose of sanctions has nothing to do with condemning or not condemning.
02:54And this is not a qualifier about Patriarch Kirill.
02:57This is specifically about a role sanction can play in such a case.
03:01But you condemn Patriarch Kirill and his comments regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
03:06In this case, we are condemning any form of aggression promoting activity.
03:12When you talk about one figure such as him that is a symbol of the Orthodox Church, it's not a
03:19matter of how do you judge or criticize or not criticize.
03:24Any activity that promotes further escalation or anybody promoting further escalation rather than promoting peace is a figure that we
03:33cannot really support.
03:35But it doesn't mean that we should apply sanctions.
03:37You told reporters on your way into the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday that it would be a bad
03:43sign if the EU's 21st sanctions package was not revised at least by the 15th of July.
03:50You're going to Ukraine on that date.
03:52And we know that the oil price cap should be revised before this date.
03:57So it doesn't benefit the Kremlin.
03:59Are you worried about showing up empty handed or alongside a mechanism that potentially benefits Russia?
04:07Look, the pros of negotiating sanction packages is a difficult one, as we know.
04:11And here I respect the position of every member state.
04:14And I hope that we manage to reach an agreement until the 15th.
04:19I'm going to Kiev as a follow up of a number of meetings that our prime minister had with President
04:24Zelensky,
04:25where Ukraine very clearly expressed interest and desire to work with Bulgaria.
04:29So bilaterally to strengthen in line of strengthening energy cooperation.
04:35There's clear need for Ukraine to secure its energy supplies in the upcoming winter.
04:42And that's where Bulgaria can play a big role, because we are in a country that can deliver a lot
04:49more gas.
04:50So in the route of gas supply to Ukraine, and that's where Ukraine has strong interests.
04:54So we are looking at ways to support Ukraine in ways that are mutually beneficial for both us and the
05:00entire region as well,
05:01and to strengthen the energy security of the region.
05:04So I'm not afraid about going empty handed.
05:06I'm more thinking about how can we work more together to help Ukraine face the challenges in front of it,
05:13which are going to be even higher as the winter approaches.
05:17And when you go to Ukraine on Wednesday, are you going with a proposal when it comes to gas,
05:22a certain metric that can be offered by a certain deadline?
05:26Well, the discussion is still at the level of where we are determining what the needs are short term
05:32and what the opportunities are for expansion of the cooperation mid to long term.
05:37So I will not engage in the most technical discussion.
05:40We'll leave those to our Ministry of Energy, and we are already in discussion at that level too.
05:45But at my level, what's important is for us to identify what the role of Bulgaria could be there
05:51in short term to supply the necessary support for Ukraine and for the winter, but also long term.
05:58This is a route to further participation of Bulgaria in the reconstruction of Ukraine,
06:02because energy security is not just providing electricity for now,
06:06but it's also a means to the economic prosperity of Ukraine.
06:10As you know, Ukraine has one of the biggest gas storage facilities.
06:13So being able to deliver more gas and store it would also be an opportunity for its own economic stability
06:19going forward.
06:20An options paper proposed by the European Commission regarding a partial or outright trade ban
06:27between the European Union and illegal Israeli settlements was also discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.
06:33What is Sophia's position on this?
06:36Should trade continue as it is today, or should there be a crackdown?
06:41This is a difficult discussion, but because we've had many hypothetical discussions to date.
06:46It's the first time we have some form of options, not a concrete proposal still.
06:51What's important here is to think about what are the topics and objectives for which we have unity as a
06:59union.
06:59First, we all want an improvement of the humanitarian situation, and second, we are all in support of two-state
07:05solution.
07:07And on that basis, we are looking at any proposed measures as a means to those two objectives.
07:14When it comes to the sanctions for settlers there, we've supported in the past such sanctions.
07:21You know, we've had discussions on further possibilities of sanctions as well.
07:24When it comes to trade measures, we have a very pragmatic approach in thinking, okay, what is the current scale
07:30of trade from those regions?
07:33In the case of Bulgaria, it's minimal, if at all any.
07:36So, if we think whether those trade measures are going to improve the humanitarian situation, likely not.
07:42And now, if we think about what is the possibility to adopt trade measures at the European level, what's still
07:50missing is a concrete proposal with the right legal basis.
07:53We still are toying between opportunities for making decisions as unanimity or as with a qualified majority.
08:00And that's something that causes tension within the council, and I hope very soon for us to actually see clarity
08:07on this on a very clear legal basis and proposals.
08:10So, we can, as countries, we can study those proposals and make decisions.
08:15But until then, we will try to support any action that would allow us to improve the humanitarian situation and
08:22not make any ability for Europe to continue to play a role there any more limited.
08:28So, just to clarify, you're not convinced by any of the proposals just yet by what has been pitched by
08:33the European Commission?
08:34They're not proposals, really. They are options.
08:37Yeah.
08:37And that's slightly different.
08:39And there's not very clear agreement between the legal service of the commission and the council about the ability to
08:46adopt those with unanimity.
08:48It's clear that we don't have full agreement in the council, but there's also some need for clarity there.
08:53What's important is for Europe to maintain its role in terms of humanitarian support and deliver on the ground, and
09:02all efforts need to go in that direction.
09:05So, that's a discussion that I suppose we'll continue to have in the fall.
09:11Bulgaria recognized the Palestinian state in 1988.
09:14It was one of the world's first, but Bulgaria is also an ally of the Jewish community, particularly from World
09:21War II.
09:22How does Sofia balance both of these things in 2026 when the debate is so polarized?
09:29It is polarized, but we need to look at what's interested of our citizens and European citizens.
09:34Israel continues to be an important partner, and we need to find productive ways of engagement with Israel and to
09:43avoid any further escalation in the region and to support efforts in finding a sustainable peace there.
09:50In the same time, we continue to be aware of the growing humanitarian needs and the dire humanitarian situation.
09:58So, at times where we've seen excess of violence or really, as I said, a dire humanitarian situation, we've shown
10:07our criticism, and we've also expressed it directly to Israel.
10:12But we believe that we need to keep our thinking around any measures we apply with that objective in mind.
10:20Would they make Israel more willing to participate in improving the humanitarian situation?
10:25Would they make Israel more willing to participate in future peace efforts?
10:31And would they limit the role of Hamas there as well?
10:35So, it's more within the objectives of finding sustainable peace there rather than individual symbolic measures in one or the
10:43other direction.
10:44Thank you so much, Minister.
10:46Thank you, too.
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