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The pressure from Donald Trump’s sanctions on Russia landed hard in the Balkans, and governments there moved fast because the White House deadline left no room for games. Bulgaria lawmakers met in Sofia and, according to Bloomberg, said they had to deal with the problem after Lukoil PJSC, one of the companies hit by the sanctions, still controlled the country’s biggest oil refinery. Parliament seized the Neftohim refinery near the Black Sea, removed Lukoil’s rights, and handed full control to a temporary manager. The committee needed only 26 seconds to end 26 years of Russian ownership so Bulgaria could show Washington it wasn’t dragging its feet. The event triggered the sharpest reduction of Russia’s economic reach in the Balkans in decades. Trump’s sanctions targeted Russian oil companies directly, and that struck at the economic power that Vladimir Putin had spent years building in a region where governments are caught between Western allies and old Russian ties. Bulgaria moves to remove Lukoil from economy Bulgaria’s Lukoil has long said it was being pushed to sell its refinery and its 220 gasoline stations, but nothing changed until Trump’s decision forced the government to act. Ruslan Stefanov, chief economist at the Center for the Study of Democracy in Sofia, said, “The core of Russia’s influence is built upon energy domination through oil and gas, remains of the Soviet times that weren’t broken for years. Much of this is now gone. These are the last breaths, which is why they cause so much anxiety.” Officials in Bulgaria started to rethink their position after Putin launched the full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The country is preparing to adopt the euro and deepen its ties with the European Union, but it stayed linked to Russian energy for too long. Bulgaria’s connection to Russia stretches…

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Filed under: News - @ November 20, 2025 9:26 am