Bulgaria Allows Purchase of Russian Equipment for Nuclear Plants: What Was Excluded from Sanctions

The Bulgarian Cabinet of Ministers approved a temporary exemption from the sanctions restrictions currently in force against Russia, allowing the purchase of certain types of equipment from Russia that are necessary for the operation of the country's nuclear energy sector. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a BNR News publication. The decision concerns, above all, the country's only operating nuclear power plant — Kozloduy — as well as the unfinished Belene facility. In essence, Sofia has opened a targeted "window" in the sanctions regime to prevent the shutdown of infrastructure that is critical to the energy system.

What exactly was allowed to be purchased

The exemption covers iron and steel products necessary for the operation and safety of the Kozloduy NPP. Supplies will be made under an already existing contract linked to the plant. The Bulgarian government explained the step by noting that a significant portion of Kozloduy's systems and equipment is of Russian origin: this is why the import of certain components was decided to be legalized through a sanctions exemption, rather than attempting to replace them with equivalents from other suppliers. For a plant that accounts for more than a third of the country's annual electricity generation, such dependence on Russian components makes the issue of supplies a matter of national energy security.

Why Kozloduy depends on Russian components

The Kozloduy NPP is Bulgaria's only nuclear facility and the largest electricity producer in the country. Historically, its technological base was formed with the involvement of Russian equipment, which means that many units, spare parts, and safety systems have no direct Western equivalents and cannot be replaced quickly. Under sanctions pressure, this creates a risk of downtime and reduced operational safety. The introduced exemption, by Sofia's logic, allows the plant to remain operational and safety obligations to be met without violating the overall course of sanctions policy — it concerns a temporary and specifically limited list of products.

The fate of the unfinished Belene NPP

A separate part of the decision was the fate of the unfinished Belene nuclear power plant. The Bulgarian national energy company EAD was given the opportunity to announce a public tender and conclude a contract with the Bulgarian branch of the Russian company Atomstroyexport. The contract provides for the preservation (conservation) of equipment that had previously been supplied for the first and second power units of Belene. Thus, this is not about resuming construction, but about preserving and properly storing the already delivered sets — a task that, according to Sofia's assessment, can be correctly performed precisely by the Russian contractor that supplied this equipment.

Context: parallel reports on sanctions evasion

Against the backdrop of the decision on nuclear energy, the same article cites a separate point not directly linked to Bulgaria: according to a source in Ukrainian air defense, Russia, despite Western restrictions, has established mass production of jet engines for drones, obtaining equipment for 3D printing of turbines similar to that used at Rolls-Royce facilities. It is reported that this allowed the cost of jet drones to be cut at least in half — to 50–70 thousand dollars per unit, with potential for further reduction. It is important to emphasize: this information relies on an anonymous source and is not confirmed by independent fact-checking data, so it is presented as contextual, not as a verified fact.