In the program "Panorama" on BNT, the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov recounted details of his conversation with Dmitry Medvedev during the visit of party representatives to Russia:
"We were at a forum that included 10 European countries and 10 BRICS member states, and the conversations were about cooperation, about regulating conflicts, not only in Europe, but also everywhere in the world where there are such. The conversation that I had with Medvedev was on the topic of "Lukoil" specifically. And what impressed me, by the way, was that he was just hours before the exception for "Lukoil", the so-called derogation, was announced.
The conversation we had wasn't very long, but I was impressed that the Russian side was extremely calm. And there wasn't an ounce of concern there. What Medvedev said was that if there was a confiscation of Russian state assets, they would respond with a quick counter-confiscation, both of state and private assets of the company, of the state that carries out such confiscations on the territory of the Russian Federation. But when it comes to private companies, private companies can seek their rights in court. And what Medvedev actually concluded was that if there was such a claim against Bulgaria, "Lukoil" would win it.
And that was his assurance. By the way, a few hours later, in the literal sense of the word, it became clear that there was an exception, which for me is once again proof that we are seeing a big game in which two, figuratively speaking, cats are playing with a mouse in the middle. And the mouse is the so-called EU. We are seeing it even now with Trump's plan, which, by the way, is extremely reasonable. And which people in Bulgaria, without having read it, are starting to deny, which is normal. This is the style of the Red Army from Mao's time. They like to quote without having read anything. Medvedev tells us that if there are any counter-actions against their property, they will provoke counter-actions against Bulgarian property."
Kostadinov explained why "Vazrazhdane" attacks the expanded powers of the special manager in "Lukoil" before the Constitutional Court:
"We introduced a law that provided for such special managers to be appointed in all other key enterprises for our energy sector, such as, for example, the plants in the "Maritsa-Iztok" complex, which have long been out of the ownership of Bulgarian companies and are not owned by the Bulgarian state. It's just that we see how our rulers act selectively. When the company is Russian, it must be placed under special supervision, but when it is American... Although you can see in the time we live in, it turns out that these boundaries are somehow starting to blur. You and I at the beginning, even before the conversation in the studio began, commented on a case from more than 2,000 years ago. Sometimes things arrive in our region with a great delay. And when the two great Great Powers begin to understand each other, some here still haven't understood it. They will understand it very painfully at some point for them."
The leader of "Vazrazhdane" believes that the derogation is not a success for the government, because "in practice it is for everyone else, of course in different strokes, but for all the other properties, assets, enterprises of "Lukoil" throughout Europe. And this shows that in fact both the Russians and the Americans are playing a very big game. At a high level. In which it is obvious that their positions are increasingly converging. Which is good. By the way, it is good for world peace."