October 26 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia will seek compensation from Bulgaria over the recent introduction of a fee on the transit of Russian gas, economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi said.
North Macedonia's government will also complain before the European Union against the new fee, Bekteshi told a press conference streamed on his Facebook profile on Wednesday.
"They [Bulgaria] told us they will make an effort to exempt [from the fee] the amounts [reserved for North Macedonia] and we are awaiting their decision,” Bekteshi also said.
North Macedonia does not have natural gas deposits and relies on imports from Russia transited through Bulgaria under a gas supply contract with Gazprom that will expire in 2030.
Earlier in October, Bulgaria introduced a fee of 20 levs ($10.78/10.22 euro) per MWh on Russian natural gas transiting its territory.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)