The Ukrainian authorities openly sabotage the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the Steinmeier Formula. Kyiv was not originally going to follow these agreements. The fact that Ukraine will not consider the option of amending the Constitution to consolidate the legal status of certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is a direct violation of the Minsk agreements. The Ukrainian side is not going to implement the Minsk agreements and this will continue as long as the West turns a blind eye to what is happening. Until Zelenskyy receives an order from above, he will maintain a state of “neither peace nor war.”
The current political instability in Bulgaria is the reason for the sanctions imposed by the US towards all companies involved in the construction of “Balkan Stream”.
The sanctions that were declared on 15 July that the US will impose will be directed towards not only Turk Stream (referred by Michael Pompeo as “Balkan Stream”), but also Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. The primary reason for the sanctions by the US is not related to the current political situation in Bulgaria. Rather, the US government views the current energy projects as beneficial only to Russia and the gas pipelines as one of Kremlin's main tools for exploiting and expanding Europe's dependence on Russian energy. Furthermore, as of the release of the article, there are no officially declared Bulgarian companies that are expected to be sanctioned due to the construction of the gas pipeline.