Deutsche Welle: Ilian Vassilev: 'South Stream got too expensive for Russia'

The reason for Moscow's sudden cancellation of the controversial gas pipeline project South Stream is Russia's current economic predicament, Bulgaria's former ambassador to Russia, Ilian Vassilev, tells DW.

Russia has scrapped its plans for the construction of the South Stream pipeline, which would have supplied southern Europe with natural gas. The European Union's intransigence had rendered the project pointless, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday in Ankara, Turkey.

Putin singled out Bulgaria as the biggest obstacle to the project's completion - and the country with the most to lose from its failure. But there is speculation that the crisis in Ukraine as well as Russia's current economic plight played major roles in the decision to cancel South Stream.

The EU, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that Russia's decision to halt the project showed that the bloc had to step up efforts to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.  MORE