ATHENS

Vladimir Putin’s Thursday remarks that the entire Black Sea coast used to be Russian shows its “imperial aspirations” which target some EU countries, the Bulgarian prime minister has said.

Speaking at a press in Brussels where he traveled to attend a European Council meeting and an EU-Western Balkans conference, Nikolay Denkov said: "In earlier years the Russian side made statements which smacked of imperial aspirations. These imperial aspirations target most of the present-day countries, including some EU countries."

He added: "On the other hand, we should pay attention to these statements, because they sound like nothing more than statements at first, but then some of them turn into a plan of action."

In a historical reference in his annual televised press conference, Putin had said that the "whole Black Sea coast became Russian after the Russo-Turkish wars."