Sofia plans to stop importing Russian natural gas as early as 2026, according to Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov.

"We [i.e. Bulgaria], as part of the European Union, will join the EU's decisions to terminate contracts for the use or transit of Russian natural gas in the short term, in 2026," Jeliazkov said.

A day earlier, the US President Donald Trump, speaking at the UN General Assembly, called on Europe to stop buying energy from Russia, and promised to discuss this matter with European leaders. According to Trump, countries that continue to buy oil and natural gas from Russia are in fact funding the Russian military machine.

The EU has sharply reduced imports of Russian natural gas since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. But the Kremlin’s European allies, Hungary and Slovakia, continue to receive Russian natural gas through pipelines via Turkey, and they have no plans to stop.

Bulgaria has partially replaced it with supplies from Azerbaijan, but continues to receive Russian natural gas indirectly, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev had said in February.