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Second day of US Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried's visit to Sofia.

"We are extending a hand to Bulgaria at the moment when Russia slammed its doors in front of it," she said during a meeting with the government and representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, BTV writes.

During it, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said that after the unilateral termination of the contract for natural gas by Gazprom to Bulgaria in the last three weeks, our country has shown that there may be real diversification of gas in our country.

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried said there must be guarantees that no one can ever put any country that is an ally of the United States under energy blackmail.

Kiril Petkov met with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried

"What we have at the moment is an unprecedented crisis that we all know, and when I was in Ukraine I saw it first hand.

I saw real rockets fly over the Bulgarian delegation and exploded in a residential building about 500 meters from us.

It is one thing to see him on television, it is another to see him in real life in front of you, when innocent people die because of the aggression of a dictator, "said Kiril Petkov at the meeting.

"We came in with the promise of anti-corruption.

What I did not know was that anti-corruption was in fact a restriction of foreign influences on Bulgaria, and more precisely of influence from Russia.

"Our big task is to continue the fight against anti-corruption, because it turned out to be bigger than the national battle," the prime minister said.

"More than three months have passed since Putin's actions that started this brutal war.

His actions have displaced millions.

We thank the efforts of Bulgaria, which with open arms provides technical and humanitarian support to Ukraine.

We are reaching out to Bulgaria at a time when Russia has slammed its doors in front of it, "said Karen Donfried.

In front of American business and representatives of the Bulgarian government, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov also commented on Bulgaria's energy strategy in the context of the green deal, and earlier the US Assistant Secretary of State met with President Rumen Radev.