This week’s energy reports have been replete with references to Bulgaria’s sudden change of heart regarding two major energy infrastructure projects with Russia.  On Friday, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov made the surprising declaration that Bulgaria was planning to back out of the $1 billion Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project and suspending construction of the Belene nuclear power plant.  This was apparently news to his own Energy Minister, who expressed incredulity and suggested no concrete decisions had been made.  Today there are reports of Sofia asserting a preference for the Nabucco pipeline over South Stream, implying that the balance may in fact be tipping in favor of eurocentricity.  What exactly has prompted this recoil from Russia?  The Financial Times cites environmental concerns, triggered by the Gulf of Mexico disaster and it also implies that Borissov, after just under a year in power, is edging away from the Kremlin-friendlier relations soldered under the country’s previous socialist Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.  Today’s Forbes has an incisive, penetrating look at the long-standing geo-political tensions at play:

While there is no reason to doubt Sofia’s explanations for canceling the infrastructure projects, they come on the heels of the revelation by the Bulgarian government at the beginning of 2010 — and confirmed by the Foreign Ministry in April — that it was considering hosting elements of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) in the country. It also comes right after a two-day visit to Sofia by the CIA Director Leon Panetta, who was apparently feted by the entire government during his stay.

In other words, Bulgaria’s relationship with the United States is on the upswing, which brings into question Sofia’s longstanding “special relationship” with Russia.