site.btaYes, Bulgaria: Delyan Peevski and Boyko Borissov Are Trying to Trade Peevski’s Removal from Magnitsky List against Lukoil Deal

Delyan Peevski and Boyko Borissov are attempting to negotiate Peevski’s removal from the Magnitsky sanctions list against a deal involving Lukoil and the TurkStream gas pipeline, Ivaylo Mirchev, co-chair of Yes, Bulgaria and MP from Continue the Change- Democratic Bulgaria, told journalists in the National Assembly.

Over the past two years, Borissov has had several meetings with influential figures in Washington, raising the question of “doing something to get Peevski off the Magnitsky list.” If no decision for an exemption is made, or if the state does not take control over the refinery, there is a very serious risk of a fuel market crisis in Bulgaria, Mirchev said regarding the U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia’s two largest oil companies — Rosneft and Lukoil.

“When now, in this tense situation related to the U.S. sanctions, a line of buyers appears wanting to purchase Lukoil, Peevski will go to the buyer and say: ‘Look – the decision on whether it will be sold or not depends on my person in SANS (State Agency for National Security),’ said Bozhidar Bozhanov, the other co-chairman of Yes, Bulgaria and an MP, regarding the proposed amendments to the Investment Promotion Act related to the procedure for selling ‘Lukoil’.

In this way, he will be able to obtain a minority share, through a fund, through an offshore company, as he likes to do, just as he did with Bulgartabak. In the end, he will turn out to be a hidden co-owner. He might even give a little to Borissov, as was the case with Bulgartabak, so that everyone is happy. “This is the mechanism through which he will use this change to take a stake in Lukoil,” Bozhanov believed.