Bulgaria to Allocate $645Mln for NEK Energy Firm to Repay Debt to Russia

The Bulgarian Energy Ministry on Tuesday decided to allocate 601,6 million euros ($645 million) for the National Electric Company (NEK) to repay its debt to Russia, the ministry's press service said in a statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the statement, NEK would receive the whole sum on Tuesday.

"The Energy Ministry will provide the NEK company with a sum of 601.6 million euros as a refundable assistance to pay its debt, specified by the decision of the International Court of Arbitration. Russia's company Atomstroyexport will receive the sum on its account before the end of the week," the statement said.

In 2006, the Russian Atomstroyexport company, a subsidiary of Rosatom, won an international tender on constructing two units of the Belene nuclear power plant (NPP), but the project was frozen in 2009 after the government headed by Boyko Borissov had come to power. In 2011, Atomstroyexport sued Bulgaria after it scrapped the Belene project.

On June 16, the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Geneva ruled in favor of Atomstroyexport in a dispute with the NEK on the termination of the NPP project, ordering the Bulgarian entity to pay 620 million euro to their Russian partners.